Context
A rare type of malaria, Plasmodium ovale, has been identified in a jawan in Kerala, during his posting in Sudan, where Plasmodium ovale is endemic.
What are the types of Malaria?
- Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito, if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
- There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
What is the status in India?
- In India, most dominant types are P. vivax and P. falciparum.
- The high-burden states in India are Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh
What are the features of Plasmodium ovale?
- It is termed ovale as about 20% of the parasitised cells are oval in shape.
- P ovale rarely causes severe illness.
- Symptoms include fever for 48 hours , headache and nausea, and the treatment modality is the same as it is for a person infected with P vivax.
- P ovale malaria is endemic to tropical Western Africa.
