Malaria, Poems

I. Types

57 I. TYPES “Plasmodium is a tiny, single-celled parasite that infects cells.” There are over 120 species of the parasite genus Plasmodium. These five infect humans: 1. Plasmodium falciparum: causes the most serious disease; this is the killer. 2. Plasmodium vivax: the most common but infections rarely fatal. 3. Plasmodium ovale: restricted to West Africa; causes mild illness. 4. Plasmodium malariae: isolated and scattered over globe, severe fever, rarely fatal. 5. Plasmodium knowlesi: recently discovered in Southeast Asia, potentially fatal. (Wellcome Collection, “The Malaria Parasite at a Glance” and A. Kantele and S. Jokiranta, Plasmodium knowlesi—the fifth species causing human malaria) II. HOW IT HAPPENS “The female Anopheles mosquito, hungry for blood, lands on a patch of warm human skin. “She plants four of her six hairy legs as she dips her head and thorax. She probes with her long, tube-like proboscis, bending back her labium, the lip that sheathes the proboscis. At the end of the proboscis, knife-like stylets move rapidly like electric carving knives to split the skin. She gently jabs at different angles in the hole until she nicks an arteriole that spouts a subcutaneous pool of blood that she can draw from. Exquisitely evolved, the female vampire will squirt into the cut a small amount of saliva full of anticoagulants to prevent the blood from clotting. . . . “Within a couple minutes, her translucent belly bloats and shifts from waxy gray to cherry red. She sucks a few micrograms M I S C . M A T T E R S ...