Appendix A: Malaria Lifecycle

At a glance

Diagram of the malaria lifecycle, including mosquito, human liver, and human blood stages. The diagram also illustrates infective vs diagnostic stages of the parasite's lifecycle. Also included are the temporal views of both p. falciparum and p. vivax.

Malaria Lifecycle

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malaria lifecycle
malaria lifecycle

Temporal view of malaria lifecycle

P. falciparum

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p.falciparum
P. falciparum

P. vivax

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P. vivax
P. vivax
  1. Anopheles mosquitos can live up to 6 weeks after ingesting gametocytes.
  2. Semi-immune individuals (visitors or recent immigrants) may have prolonged infection without overt symptoms and may not recover from malaria or die of malaria.
  3. P. falciparum gametocytes usually appear ~7-10 days after symptom onset, can last up to 10-22 days. Blood stage treatment does not kill P. falciparum mature gametocytes.
  4. P. vivax gametocytes can appear before symptom onset, during the prepatent period, and are killed with blood stage treatment.
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Content Source:
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID)