1. Apicomplexa: Plasmodium
By: Rachel Mani

2. Description
Plasmodium is a type of parasite that is unicellular and intracellular (attacks organisms internally)
Plasmodium is the pathogen that causes Malaria and requires a host and a vector in order to transmit the disease
Plasmodium is hard to detect because it “hides” from the immune system and continually changes its form or appearance so that the immune system cannot recognize it

3. Different Types of Plasmodium
There are 170 known species, but only 10 infect humans
Of the 10, 4 cause Malaria
These four are plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium ovale, and plasmodium malariae
Plasmodium falciparum has caused the most cases of Malaria

4. Interesting Facts
Plasmodium causes infected red blood cells to stick to walls of blood vessels until the parasite is ready to burst the cell and send out more infected cells to spread and infect other red blood cells
Vector of Plasmodium is the female Anopheline mosquito
Plasmodium can infect humans, monkeys, birds, reptiles, and rodents