Malaria

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by coccidian protozoa of the genus Plasmodium, and transmitted by infected female anopheline mosquitoes. Plasmodium sp infecting humans include Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malariae, and Plasmodium ovale. The 4 species differ in geographic distribution, microscopic appearance, and clinical features.d Infections with P. vivax, P. falciparum, P. malariae, and P. ovale are known respectively as vivax or benign tertian malaria, falciparum malaria, quartan malaria, and ovale malaria. The terms tertian and quartan describe the usual periodicity of the fever. General Considerations In the mid-19th century Meckel and others discovered a black granular substance in the blood and tissues of patients with malaria. In 1847, Meckel observed that the granules lay within protoplasmic masses which Afanasiev, in 1879, suggested were the cause of malaria. In 1880, Laveran, a French army surgeon in Algeria, observed malarial pigment