On our malaria transmission page we have an in-depth explanation as to how the malaria disease is transmitted from the anopheles mosquito and how it proceeds to infect the victim which is essentially the malaria life cycle.
On this page we will give a more straight forward step by step explanation of what the malaria life cycle is on its own.
1. A female anopheles mosquito bites a human or animal that is already infected with the malaria disease in order to feed. By doing this they draw the blood and the malaria parasites that are in the blood.
2. The same now infected mosquito will bit another human or animal in order to feed again and the parasite that the mosquito has previously infected is deposited into the human or animal's bloodstream.
3. Within just 30 minutes the parasite travels to the victims liver and the malaria life cycle is well underway.
4. Once the parasite has reached the liver it begins to reproducing at an enormous rate. Some of the parasites will remain dormant in the liver only to become active years after the initial infection.
5. The new parasites enter the bloodstream and attack the red blood cells. They infiltrate the red blood cells and begin to reproduce inside them further causing the red blood cells to swell and finally burst releasing all of the new parasites into the blood stream. The process is repeated with the parasites attacking and infiltrating further red blood cells.
6. The red blood cells should be carrying oxygen all over the body but because they are being attacked and destroyed this does not happen and a result of this oxygen depletion is onset of fever and chills which are the initial symptoms of malaria to be experienced by the victim. The bodies immune system has been damaged and makes it susceptible to further illness.
7. After being release dormant malaria parasites travel through the bloodstream where they will be ingested by a new mosquito that bites the victim. This is the end of the malaria life cycle in one person and the beginning for the next victim.
As you can see the malaria life cycle is very straight forward and relatively quick. With the immune system broken down the malaria disease will take hold of the body and if untreated can lead to death.