Lesson 4 ·Class 9 · Diseases : Cause and Control · Flow Lab
The Malaria Cycle
Why controlling the mosquito controls the disease.
Plasmodium needs two hosts. Break the chain anywhere and malaria stops.
→ → → → →
🦟 Step 1 of 6 · An infected bite
A female Anopheles mosquito bites a person and injects Plasmodium sporozoites with its saliva.
Free play — step through the process at your own pace, and move the slider to see what changes. Switch to when you're ready to test yourself.
Only the female Anopheles transmits malaria, and only stagnant water lets it breed.
What this lesson covers
Challenges to clear
- Advance to the step that causes the fever.
- Follow the whole cycle and its control points.
The task
Plasmodium needs two hosts. Break the chain anywhere and malaria stops.
What this lesson covers
- An infected bite — A female Anopheles mosquito bites a person and injects Plasmodium sporozoites with its saliva.
- Into the liver — The parasites travel to the liver and multiply there without causing symptoms.
- Into red blood cells — They leave the liver and invade red blood cells, multiplying inside them.
- Cells burst — fever — The infected red cells rupture together, releasing parasites and toxins. This causes the characteristic cycles of chill and fever.
- Another mosquito feeds — A mosquito biting this person takes up the parasites with the blood.
- Breaking the chain — Nets and repellents stop bites; removing stagnant water stops breeding; drugs clear the parasite from people.
Hint
Only the female Anopheles transmits malaria, and only stagnant water lets it breed.