(Protista)+Plasmodium+falciparum

=//Plasmodium falciparum//=


 * Kingdom || Protista ||
 * Phylum || Apicomplexa ||
 * Class || Sporozoasida ||
 * Order || Eucoccidiorida ||
 * Family || Plasmodiidae ||
 * Genus || Plasmodium ||
 * Species || //Plasmodium falciparum// ||

Phylum: Apicomplexa
The phylum Apicomplexa is filled with parasitic protists that infest both invertebrates and vertebrates. They are pathogens of various severity, and some species (such as the //Plasmodium falciparum//) cause malaria. They feature a life cycle that includes both asexual and sexual reproduction, and the stages of its life can be skipped. The basic life cycle begins as the infective cell, a sporozoite. It enters a host cell where it divides many times into many merozoites. The merozoites transform into sexually reproductive cells called gamonts. The gamonts pair up, forming gamontocysts, within which the gamonts divide into gametes that pair up to form zygotes, finally going through meiosis to form sporozoites. The cycle then repeats. Vectors of the parasites are usually arthropods, such as mosquitoes.

////Plasmodium falciparum////
The //P. falciparum// is a parasitic protist whose vector is the female mosquito and infects humans, causing the most severe cases of malaria. Mosquito bites transfer the sporozoite cells of the //P. falciparum//, when are carried into the liver and from there infect it. Over a week, the cells continuously divide asexually and become infectious merozoites. When the liver cells rupture, the merozoites are released and they invade red blood cells. Upon infecting a red blood cell, the merozoite becomes a feeding trophozoite, eating the contents of the red blood cell. It divides into merozoites, eventually rupturing the cell, to infect more red blood cells. This cycle regarding the red blood cells is called the blood cycle. Merozoites will sometimes develop into sexual stage gametocytes, usually inside of organs like the brain of within bane marrow, taking 12 days to develop prior to the release of more sporozoites.

Unique Features
The //P. falciparum// is especially unique because it causes the most severe cases of malaria. Its cases are most severe because during the 48-hour long blood cycle, the infected red blood cells are changed so that they stick to blood vessels, resulting in blockages in the circulatory system and dysfunction of organs. This happens frequently in the brain, contributing to symptoms of cerebral malaria.

At the peak of infection time, the infected person may carry up to 2 million parasites per microlitre of blood.

A blood smear with //P. falciparum// gametocytes.

Range
The //P. falciparum// is found globally but is most common in Africa. Below is a map of countries in which indigenous malaria is found.