Q. What is the life cycle of Plasmodium vivax?
The vector mosquito bites a infected person and ingests female and male gametocytes of the parasite. Within the insect gut the gametocytes differentiate into fecundation and gametes take place, forming zygotes. Each plasmodium zygote by mitosis (sporogony) generates several infective sporozoites that migrate to the salivary glands of the mosquito. Once the mosquito bites a person the sporozoites enter the human circulation and when in the liver they undergo the first asexual reproduction (tissue schizogony), releasing several merozoites into the blood.
The merozoites infect RBC (red blood cells) where the second asexual reproduction of the cycle (erythrocytic schizogony) and the production of many other parasites occur; some of these parasites differentiate into gametocytes. The RBC (red blood cells) then breaks (hemolysis), the parasites are released in the blood and the cycle can restart.