Question

The malignant tertian malaria is caused by

• A. Plasmodium vivax
• B. Plasmodium falciparum
• C. Plasmodium ovale
• D. Plasmodium malaria

Answer 1

The correct option is B

Plasmodium falciparum

The correct option is B.

Explanation of correct option:

1. Malignant tertian malaria is a severe form of malarial disease in humans.
2. The symptoms of the disease recur every 48 hours and induce acute cerebral, renal, or gastrointestinal malfunctioning.
3. It is caused by the one of species of plasmodium called Plasmodium falciparum.

Explanation of incorrect options:

Option A:

1. It also causes malaria disease in humans, but the severity of the disease is lesser compared to the falciparum species.
2. Plasmodium vivax causes benign tertian malaria, in which the episodes of the fever occur every three days after the infection.

Option C:

1. Plasmodium ovale also causes malaria and it is in a similar way as that of the vivax species.
2. It also causes benign tertian malaria.

Option D:

1. Plasmodium malaria also causes benign tertian malaria and it affects in a similar way to vivax and ovale species.

Final answer: The malignant tertian malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum.