Do Malaria Parasites Change Mosquito Host-Seeking And Biting Behaviour?

DO MALARIA PARASITES CHANGE MOSQUITO HOST-SEEKING AND BITING BEHAVIOUR?
Student ID: 2337230A
Tutor’s Name: Dr Lisa Ranford-Cartwright
Course: Host-pathogen interactions
Date: 08/01/2018
Word Count: 3531 words
Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u INTROUDUCTION TO MALARIA PARASITES PAGEREF _Toc505714466 \h 3Mosquitoes as Malaria Vectors PAGEREF _Toc505714467 \h 4Host-seeking Behaviour PAGEREF _Toc505714468 \h 6Sight and Heat PAGEREF _Toc505714469 \h 7Scent PAGEREF _Toc505714470 \h 8Skin Microbiota PAGEREF _Toc505714471 \h 8Sweat PAGEREF _Toc505714472 \h 8Biting Behaviour PAGEREF _Toc505714473 \h 9How Malaria Parasites Change Mosquito Host-Seeking and Biting Behaviour? PAGEREF _Toc505714474 \h 11How the Malaria parasite in a person changes mosquitoes’ behaviour? PAGEREF _Toc505714475 \h 11How the Malaria parasite in the mosquito changes the mosquito’s behaviour? PAGEREF _Toc505714476 \h 12Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc505714477 \h 12References PAGEREF _Toc505714478 \h 14
DO MALARIA PARASITES CHANGE MOSQUITO HOST-SEEKING AND BITING BEHAVIOUR?
INTROUDUCTION TO MALARIA PARASITES
Malaria is an ailment transmitted by protozoan parasites known as Plasmodia, which are categorized in to the parasitic phylum Apicomplexa. The genus Plasmodium has over two hundred species under it (Krief et al., 2010). These can infect animal species such as some mammals, birds and/or reptiles. Of these, five species have been linked to human infections (Krief et al., 2010). These include; P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. knowlesi and P. malariae. The different species are found in different parts of the world.
The P. falciparum is normally located in tropical and subtropical parts especially in Africa where it predominates. The P. vivax is common in Asia, Latin America, and some areas of Africa. The P. ovale is predominant in Western Pacific Islands and the Western Africa. P. knowlesi is located all over Southeast Asia and P. malariae is found globally. This shows that Malaria is a global menace which affects most nations. The different species have varying lifecycles and different effects when they infect humans. P. falciparum causes the most severe even fatal malaria.
The natural ecosystem of malaria entails malaria parasites successfully contaminating two types of hosts: the female Anopheles mosquito and humans. Normally, humans get malaria when bitten by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. To infect someone, the female Anopheles mosquito must have been infected through biting and sucking blood from an infected person (White, 2017). The Anopheles mosquito bites an infected person and the blood it sucks contains microscopic malaria parasites. Later, when it bites its next victim, the parasites mix with the Anopheles mosquito’s saliva and this is injected in to the person being bitten.
The life cycle of the malaria parasite starts when the female Anopheles mosquito bites someone and injects the malaria parasite in to their bloodstream. These malaria parasites are transmitted in the form of sporozoites which move rapidly to the human liver where they multiply asexually for seven to ten days without causing any symptoms. The liver cells release the merozoite forms of the parasite in to the bloodstream w...