Question

Name the causative agent of malaria. State any two symptoms and two preventive measures of malaria.

Answer 1

Hint: Malaria is caused by a protozoan who needs two hosts to complete its life cycle where one of its hosts is a vector or transmitting agent too. Its symptoms are exhibited within one week of its entry. Its prevention includes ways to minimize any interaction with its transmitting agent.

Complete answer:
Malaria is caused by a protozoan Plasmodium. Various grades of malaria can be observed due to different species of Plasmodium like P.vivax, P.malaria, and P.falciparum. Among them, Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal one. Initial symptoms of malaria include fever followed by shivers, headaches, and pain all over the muscular areas. The cycle of shivers due to feeling cold and then developing a high fever is usually observed in 48 hours. Preventions of malaria include avoiding any mosquito bites. This can be achieved by wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants especially if you are outside. Inside homes, use insecticide-treated mosquito nets over beds.

Additional Information:
The malarial parasite i.s. Plasmodium has two hosts - mosquitoes and humans. When an infected female Anopheles mosquito bites a healthy man, it transmits the protozoan in its infectious form or sporozoites. Plasmodium first occupies liver cells and multiply to increase its population. It then attacks the red blood cells and ruptures it. A toxin ‘hemozoin’ is released with every rupture of every RBC. This toxin causes chill and fever in the human body. When another female Anopheles bites an infected individual, the parasite enters the insect’s body. Development of sporozoites and its storage occurs in the salivary glands of the mosquito so that when it bites another healthy individual, a new cycle repeats itself.

Note: Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal of all the Plasmodium species. In highly fatal cases, the red blood cells filled with the parasite Plasmodium falciparum can cause the blocking of blood vessels supplying blood to the central nervous system. It causes swelling of the brain which might lead to its permanent damage followed by seizures and coma. Such cases of malaria are known as cerebral malaria.