Hi, everyone! This week, I want to talk a little bit more about my research. My topic of research is malaria, which is a major cause of death and disease worldwide. Malaria is a mosquito-transmitted illness that is caused by a genus of parasites called Plasmodium. There are several different species of Plasmodium which vary by geography, but in Africa, Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) is the most prevalent and deadly species.
When a malaria-infected mosquito bites a person, it passes the parasite into the bloodstream. These parasites travel to the liver, where they grow and multiply. After some time, they leave the liver and enter the bloodstream, where they infect red blood cells and keep multiplying. If an uninfected mosquito bites an infected person, the parasite can transfer to the mosquito, which allows it to infect new people and keep its lifecycle going.
Malaria symptoms range from asymptomatic to severe, with the most common being headache, fever, chills and flu-like illness. If untreated, the disease can progress to a rare syndrome called cerebral malaria (C.M.) which causes seizures, mental confusion, coma and death. C.M.
