Chamberlain University Biology: Malaria Pathogen Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of malaria, focusing on the causative organism, Plasmodium sp. The report details the parasite's life cycle, cellular characteristics, and classification as a digenetic protozoan. It explores the symptoms of malaria, including fever, chills, and nausea, and discusses diagnostic methods such as blood tests. Furthermore, the report covers therapeutic interventions, including the use of antimalarial drugs like chloroquine, and preventive measures to control the disease. The report also includes an article summary and pathogen information, including its classification, cellular characteristics, susceptibility to antibiotics, growth conditions, and evasion of the immune system. The information provided is crucial for understanding the disease and its management.

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Malaria
NAME
CHAMBERLAIN UNIVERSITY
DATE

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Abstract
Plasmodium sp. is the causal organism of malaria, which is a protozoan, with four
different species causing the different types of malaria. It is present in many forms
throughout its life cycle and is a digenetic parasite. The symptoms of malaria caused by
this pathogen include chills, fever, nausea, dizziness and vomiting.
Article Summary
This article discusses the causal organism of malaria, Plasmodium sp. It is an
intracellular eukaryotic parasite, completing its life cycle in mosquitoes and humans.
The symptoms of malaria differ with the species infecting the human and can be
diagnosed with the combination of clinical symptoms and laboratory blood test. Different
types of drugs are used for the treatment of malaria.
Pathogen Information
Classification of microorganism- The pathogen causing malaria is of the
eukaryote belonging to the genus Plasmodium. It is an intracellular parasitic protozoan.
They are digenetic parasites which require two hosts, namely insects such as
mosquitoes and vertebrates.
Cellular characteristics- the morphologies of Plasmodium sp. differ in four
stages of development in humans and three developmental stages in the bodies of the
mosquitoes. For instance, the morphology of hepatic schizonts is in clusters of tiny
basophilic bodies in hepatic cells with a diameter of 1-2 μm in diameter. In contrast, the
macrogametocytes in the mosquitoes stain darker in the cytoplasm.
Susceptibility to antibiotics/ antiviral or antifungals- Antimalarial drugs are
used to destroy the pathogen Plasmodium sp. in the human body. As the pathogen is

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present in different stages of the life cycle within the host human, each differing in its
characteristics, the target for the action of the antimalarial drug also varies. Three broad
types of antimalarial drugs are used against Plasmodium sp. The classes of antimalarial
drugs available at present include aryl amino alcohol compounds, antifolate compounds
and artemisinin compounds.
Growth conditions. Plasmodium sp. is a heterotroph and relies on the host cell
for its nutritional needs. The lifecycle of Plasmodium sp. is lytic and digenetic. It requires
an additional secondary host. The human body along with the primary host, female
Anopheles mosquito.
Evasion of the immune system- The only extracellular stage of the pathogen is
merozoites. Hence, it is exposed to a multitude of immune attack mechanisms. The
parasite has evolved a variety of mechanisms to evade the host immune system. One
such mechanism is the highly polymorphic merozoite antigen AMA1, which slows the
immunity of the host and allows the parasite to invade the hepatic cells of the host.
Disease(s) caused, symptoms, diagnosis, and therapeutic interventions
The pathogen Plasmodium causes malaria when the host-Anopheles mosquito carrying
the parasite bites a healthy person. Four different species of Plasmodium infect
humans, namely P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale and P. falciparum. The infection caused
by P. falciparum causes more severe symptoms than the other types of malaria and
pose a higher risk of death. Typically, the symptoms develop after one to four weeks of
infection. The most commonly observed symptoms include high fever, shaking chills,
profused sweats, along with nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. The diagnosis of malaria

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is primarily determined by enlargement of the spleen or liver and confirmed by blood
tests. A blood smear of the patient stained with Giemsa stain is the Gold standard for
laboratory confirmation of malaria. The staining helps in identifying the pathogen in the
blood (Nugroho, Akbar & Murhandarwati, 2015). The preferred therapeutic interventions
for malaria include antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine, primaquine, sulfadoxine and
quinine. Chloroquine is widely used despite its recent emerging resistant strains of the
parasites. Preventive measures for controlling the vector include avoiding mosquito
bites by using screens, bed nets, insect repellants and sprays.

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References
Gaillard, T., Madamet, M., Tsombeng, F. F., Dormoi, J., & Pradines, B. (2016).
Antibiotics in malaria therapy: which antibiotics except tetracyclines and
macrolides may be used against malaria?. Malaria journal, 15(1), 556.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1613-y
Nugroho, H. A., Akbar, S. A., & Murhandarwati, E. E. H. (2015). Feature extraction and
classification for detection malaria parasites in thin blood smear. In 2015 2nd
international conference on information technology, computer, and electrical
engineering (ICITACEE) (pp. 197-201). IEEE. 10.1109/ICITACEE.2015.7437798