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Question

During the life cycle of Plasmodium, sexual reproduction takes place in which of the following hosts?

A
Human
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B
Female Anopheles mosquito
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C
Male Anopheles mosquito
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D
Both a and b
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Solution

The correct option is B Female Anopheles mosquito
The protozoan Plasmodium has a complex life cycle in which asexual multiplication takes place in the vertebrate host, that alternates with an obligate sexual reproduction in the female Anopheles mosquito.

The primary host of the parasite is the Anopheles mosquito and secondary host is vertebrates (secondary host is humans).

Malaria parasite exists in the form of a motile sporozoite. The vector of malaria i.e., the female Anopheles mosquito transmits the malarial sporozoites into the hosts. When an infected mosquito bites a human, the sporozoites are injected into the blood through the mosquito’s saliva.

The sporozoites travel into our body and accumulate in the liver. These parasites initially multiply within the liver, by damaging the liver and rupturing the blood cells in the body. Malaria kills by causing the destruction of the red blood cells in the host. The parasites reproduce asexually in the RBCs, bursting the cells and releasing more parasites to infect more cells. The rupture of red blood cells by the malaria parasite releases a toxin called hemozoin which causes the patient to experience a condition known as the chills.

When the female Anopheles mosquito bites an infected human, the parasites enter the mosquito’s body along the human blood it is drinking. It is inside the mosquito’s body that the actual development and maturing of the parasite happens. The parasites produced in the human body reach the intestine of the mosquito where the male and females cells fertilize each other to lead to the formation of a sporozoite.

On maturing, the sporozoite breaks out the mosquito’s intestine and migrate to the salivary glands. Once they reach salivary glands, they wait till the mosquito bites another human and the process of infection and disease begins all over again.

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