How does malaria reproduce?
The malaria parasite undergoes both asexual and sexual reproduction cycles in its lifespan. Here's an overview of how malaria reproduces:
1. Asexual Reproduction (Sporogony):
- Occurs in the mosquito vector, Anopheles species.
- After a female Anopheles mosquito takes a blood meal from an infected person, the ingested gametocytes (male and female gametes) undergo several transformations in the mosquito's gut.
- The male gametocytes (microgametocytes) produce numerous male gametes (microgametes), while the female gametocytes (macrogametocytes) mature into female gametes (macrogametes).
- Fertilization occurs when a microgamete fuses with a macrogamete, forming a zygote.
- The zygote undergoes further development and divides multiple times to form thousands of sporozoites.
- The sporozoites migrate to the salivary glands of the mosquito, ready for transmission when it takes another blood meal from a human host.
2. Sexual Reproduction (Gametogony):
- Occurs within the human host.
- Inside the human body, the sporozoites injected by an infected mosquito enter the bloodstream and migrate to the liver.
- In the liver, the sporozoites develop into exoerythrocytic schizonts, which undergo asexual reproduction and produce thousands of merozoites.
- The merozoites are released into the bloodstream, where they invade red blood cells.
- Inside red blood cells, the merozoites undergo further asexual reproduction, producing more merozoites (also known as erythrocytic schizogony) and breaking apart the infected cells.
- Some of the newly released merozoites develop into male and female gametocytes (gametocytogenesis).
When another uninfected Anopheles mosquito bites an infected person, it ingests the male and female gametocytes, starting the asexual reproduction cycle in the mosquito's body again.
The alternation between asexual reproduction in humans (merozoite multiplication) and sexual reproduction in the mosquito (sporogony) ensures the continued transmission of malaria parasites and the spread of the disease.