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Plasmodium falciparum


Plasmodium falciparum causes malaria, one of the world's most threatening diseases. Malaria is endemic to Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South America, Oceania, and some Carribbean islands. Today, some 40% of the world's population lives in areas at high risk for malaria. Between 300 to 500 million people are infected each year, and 1.5-3 million of those die, 80-90 percent of them in Africa. (WHO, 2006; Curtis et al., 1998). 

Global distribution of malaria. CDC 2006.

Life Cycle

Immune Response

Evasion of the Immune Response

Treatment

Vaccine Development

 


Works Cited

Curtis, C.F., et al. 1998. “Can anything be done to maintain the effectiveness of pyrethroid-impregnated bednets against malaria vectors?”  Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences 353: 1769-75.

 “Malaria.”  2006. World Health Organization (WHO).  3 May 2007.  <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/>


 

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