4.3.1.5 Protist Diseases

Question 1

What type of pathogen causes malaria?

Answer 1

caused by protist pathogens that enter red blood cells and damage them

Question 2

How is malaria transmitted?

Answer 2

by a vector - the vector is the female Anopheles mosquito, in which the protists reproduce sexually, when the mosquito punctures the skin to feed on the blood, the protists enter the human bloodstream via their saliva

Question 3

What are the symptoms of malaria?

Answer 3

• fever

Question 4

What is the treatment for malaria?

Answer 4

• no preventative medecine that prevents infection
• main treatment is use of antimalarial drugs over long period of time

Question 5

How can the spread of malaria be controlled/prevented?

Answer 5

• removing stagnant water to stop mosquitoes (vectors) from breeding
• use mosquito nets
• vector control - using insecticide coated nets while sleeping to avoid being bitten
• kill mosquitoes
• travellers taking antimalarial drugs to kill parasites that enter the blood
• (isolate + treat infected individuals)