Malaria Flashcards
How has the incidence of malaria changed from 2000-2015?
Decreased by ~40%
What is the current mortality rate of malaria?
62%
Why is malaria spread restricted to specific areas of tropics, and describe the compass points of these tropics?
Tropics located 60 degrees north and 40 degrees south
Anopheles mosquitos can breed here
Can malaria spread in areas at high altitudes?
Doesn’t occur in areas higher than 2000m as anopheline mosquitoes can’t survive and breed
What are the 3 WHO regions where malaria incidence is highest, from highest to lowest?
Africa WHO region
South-East Asia WHO region
Eastern Mediterranean WHO region
What percentage of deaths in young children under 5 yrs old occurred due to malaria?
~75%
3/4 deaths
What is the genus of the parasite that causes malaria?
Plasmodium
In the plasmodium lifecycle, is the parasitic material carried by male or female anopheles mosquitos?
Female anopheles mosquitos are affected
What is are the 5 species of parasite that cause malaria?
Plasmodium falciparum
P. Ovale
P. Malariae
P. Vivax
P. Knowlesi
In the plasmodium lifecycle, when an infected female anopheles mosquito bites a human, what does it release into the bloodstream?
Bites human and releases saliva which contains plasmodium sporozoite into human bloodstream
In the plasmodium lifecycle, when is are plasmodium sporozoites first exposed to the human?
When the infected female anopheles mosquito bites the human and injects its sporozoite-containing saliva into human bloodstream
In the plasmodium lifecycle, which cells do plasmodium sporozoites enter after being injected into human bloodstream, and what structure do they mature into?
Plasmodium sporozoite enter liver parenchymal cells
take 2 weeks to mature into pre-erythrocytic schizonts
In the plasmodium lifecycle, how long does it take for sporozoites to mature into pre-erythrocytic schizonts, and in which cells does this take place?
Takes 2 weeks
Liver parenchymal cells
In the plasmodium lifecycle, what do pre-erythrocytic schizonts release, and where is this structure transported to?
Pre-erythrocytic schizonts erupt and each release 10,000-40,000 merozoites
Merozoites circulate in blood before entering RBCs
Which 2 plasmodium species don’t have all of their sporozoites changed into merozoites, and what structure do they form instead?
P. Vivax and P. Ovale
Some sporozoites mature into hypnozoites, in the liver parenchymal cells
In the plasmodium lifecycle of P. Vivax and P. Ovale, what happens to the hypnozoites that form?
Hypnozoites stay dormant in liver, cause relapse of malaria when activated
In the asexual blood stage of the plasmodium lifecycle, what 2 structures are produced from merozoites in RBCs?
Merozoites mature into trophozoites (ring form)
Trophozoites mature into schizonts
In the asexual blood stage of the plasmodium lifecycle, what do schizonts release, and where are these transported to?
Schizonts erupt and release daughter merozoites
Daughter merozoites are released back into circulation
In the plasmodium lifecycle, does the sexual blood stage need to happen immediately after one cycle of the asexual blood stage has been completed, if not what happens instead?
Cycle containing asexual blood stage can continue for months-years until sexual stage begins
Daughter merozoites that were released into circulation at end of previous asexual stage will enter RBCs, reproduce asexually, release more merozoites into circulation: this cycle continues
In the sexual stage of the plasmodium lifecycle, what structure is formed from merozoites and how are these structures given to an unaffected female anopheles mosquito?
Merozoites in RBCs mature into male and female gametocytes
which are ingested by anopheles mosquito during blood meal
In which stage of the plasmodium lifecycle does the female anopheles mosquito become infected?
Sexual stage, when mosquito ingests male and female plasmodium gametocytes during blood meal from human
In the plasmodium lifecycle, what happens to the male plasmodium gametocyte in the mosquito’s gut, and what other structure does this combine with?
Male gametocyte exflagellates to from male microgametocyte
Male microgametocyte fertilises female gametocyte to from zygote
In the plasmodium lifecycle, what happens to the plasmodium zygote once it invades the gut mucosa of the mosquito?
Zygote invades gut mucosa and becomes oocyst
In the plasmodium lifecycle, what happens to the oocyst in order to create sporozoite-containing saliva of the mosquito?
Oocyst develops into 1000s of sporozoites
Sporozoites released from gut mucosa and migrate to mosquito salivary glands
How many receptor-ligand interactions are needed for plasmodium to enter RBCs, in the plasmodium lifecycle?
2
Eg. duffy antigen is a RBC cell receptor
Why is P. Vivax unable to invade RBCs of most west Africans, and so they can’t get infected with malaria (malaria resistance)?
Most west Africans are duffy-negative, and duffy antigen is one of the RBC cell receptors that P. Vivax need to bind to to invade the RBC
Therefore P. Vivax can’t invade RBCs