Abstract
Malaria is caused by members of the genus Plasmodium. The four species infecting humans are Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, and P. ovale. Plasmodium sporozoites develop in the salivary glands of female anopheline mosquitoes and are transmitted to humans during a blood meal. The sporozoites remain in the host’s circulation for a brief period before entering hepatocytes, where they develop for 5–16 days depending on the species. During this period they increase in number thousands of times. A uninucleate P. falciparum sporozoite, for example, can develop into a multinucleate liver schizont with as many as 30,000–50,000 uninucleate merozoites. The phase beginning with sporozoite entry into the blood and ending with merozoite invasion of erythrocytes is called the exoerythrocytic phase of the disease.
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