Apicomplexa: Plasmodium By: Rachel Mani

Description Plasmodium is a type of parasite that is unicellular and intracellular (attacks organisms internally) Plasmodium is the pathogen that causes Malaria and requires a host and a vector in order to transmit the disease Plasmodium is hard to detect because it “hides” from the immune system and continually changes its form or appearance so that the immune system cannot recognize it

Different Types of Plasmodium There are 170 known species, but only 10 infect humans Of the 10, 4 cause Malaria These four are plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium ovale, and plasmodium malariae Plasmodium falciparum has caused the most cases of Malaria

Interesting Facts Plasmodium causes infected red blood cells to stick to walls of blood vessels until the parasite is ready to burst the cell and send out more infected cells to spread and infect other red blood cells Vector of Plasmodium is the female Anopheline mosquito Plasmodium can infect humans, monkeys, birds, reptiles, and rodents