Malaria Literature Review

Figure 1 : Plasmodium falciparum life cycle in female anopheline mosquito and human host depicting the different stages and their duration. Available at http:/www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/HTML/Malaria.htm. - 5 -

CHAPTER ONE

Background Information

Plasmodium falciparum is the main cause of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and Kenya. Malaria is a major public health problem in developing tropical countries with high morbidity and mortalities in children under 5 years and pregnant women (WHO, 2014). It is one of the most difficult to treat parasitic infections due to new resistance to previously effective drugs coupled to antigenic variation of surface proteins and immune response switching (Singh et al., 2009). Despite being the most widely studied parasite, little is known about the signalling processes in the blood-stage trophozoites

Despite the mortalities and morbidity, it is major cause of economic loss through medicines for treatment, monitoring and working hours lost due to sickness. It is caused by Plasmodia species which includes; Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium vivax. Of the four types, P. falciparum is the most lethal strain responsible for multi-organ failure, anaemia, coma, cerebral malaria and death.

Malaria Parasite Life Cycle and Cell Growth

Plasmodium falciparum is medically the most important malaria parasite. Its life cycle is complex, involving invasive, trophic and replicative forms in the human host and female Anopheles mosquito. The asexual stages are in the human host while the sexual occur in the mosquito midgut.

Figure 1 : Plasmodium falciparum life cycle in female anopheline mosquito and human host depicting the different stages and their duration. Available at