Question

Name the pathogen, vector, and symptoms of Malaria.

Answer 1

Hint:The pathogen is an infectious organism that enters an organism and causes disease. A vector is like a transporter of the pathogen to its host. Symptoms refer to the physical signs that are unique to a particular disease. Malaria is a mosquito derived disease causing fever.

Complete answer:Malaria is a parasitic disease caused by a single-celled parasite called Plasmodium. Approximately 210 million people are infected with malaria each year. Various species of Plasmodium cause different types of malaria. The deadliest type of malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum. It is transmitted to humans by mosquito bites specifically female Anopheles mosquito bites.
The female Anopheles mosquito needs to feed on human blood to sustain its eggs. Thus, it feeds on human blood while transferring infectious spores of Plasmodium into the human bloodstream. The various symptoms of malaria are fever, chills, headache, muscle pain and fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Other symptoms of malaria can be sweating, cough, and chest or abdominal pain.
Malaria may appear in the cycle in some people. This is called malaria attacks. An attack starts with shivering and chills. This is followed by high fever, sweating, and then a return to normal temperatures. Symptoms and signs of malaria can be seen typically within a few weeks after being bitten by infected Anopheles. Some malarial parasites can stay in a dormant or static stage in the host’s body for up to a year.
So, we can conclude that the pathogen for malaria is Plasmodium and the vector is the female Anopheles mosquito. The symptom includes fever generally and chills.

Note:There is a rare type of malaria called quartan fever. It is caused by Plasmodium malariae. It is characterized by the appearance of fever after 3 to four days in a cyclic manner. The other type of lethal malaria is caused by Plasmodium vivax. The vector is the same for all of these Plasmodium species that is the female Anopheles mosquito.