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Plasmodium malariae
Pathology:
- P. malariae infects primarily older erythrocytes.
- recurrences of disease from P. falciparum or P. malariae (recrudescence) result from increased numbers of persisting blood forms, not from persisting liver forms
Clinical manifestations:
- recurrence of fever: 72 hours (quartan malaria)
Laboratory:
- Plasmodium identified in blood by light microscopy (peripheral blood smear)
- Erythrocytes are normal in size without stippling.
- all stages may be seen in peripheral blood
- trophozoites are rounded & compact, occasionally band-form
- 6-14 merozoites, average 8
- Plasmodium malariae serology
- Plasmodium malariae DNA
Related
malaria
General
Plasmodium
Properties
KINGDOM: animal
PHYLUM: protozoa
References
- Clinical Diagnosis & Management by Laboratory Methods,
19th edition, J.B. Henry (ed), W.B. Saunders Co.,
Philadelphia, PA. 1996, pg 1260-64
- Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 14th ed.
Fauci et al (eds), McGraw-Hill Inc. NY, 1998, pg 1180-89