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The infectious stage of Plasmodium that enters the human body is:
The infective stage of Plasmodium that enters the human body via the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito is the SPOROZOITE. Once in blood, sporozoites invade hepatocytes (liver cells). Mark Sporozoites (Option 2) in 5 seconds!
_Plasmodium_ is a digenetic protozoan parasite requiring two hosts to complete its life cycle: 1. Inoculation: When an infected female _Anopheles_ mosquito pierces human skin for a blood meal, it injects saliva containing anticoagulants and thousands of sickle-shaped, motile sporozoites directly into the capillary bloodstream. 2. Hepatic Schizogony: Circulating sporozoites travel to the liver within 30 minutes, penetrating hepatocytes to undergo asexual multiple fission (pre-erythrocytic schizogony) to produce merozoites. 3. Erythrocytic Cycle: Merozoites rupture hepatocytes and invade red blood cells, developing into amoeboid feeding trophozoites, which digest hemoglobin into toxic hemozoin crystals. 4. Gametocytes: A subpopulation of merozoites differentiates into male and female gametocytes, which are taken up by a biting mosquito to complete sexual reproduction (syngamy and sporogony) in the mosquito gut wall.
- Trophozoites: The intraerythrocytic actively feeding vegetative stage inside human RBCs. - Female & Male Gametocytes: The sexual stages formed in human peripheral blood that serve as the infectious stage for the mosquito, not the human.
Diagnose every choice: Know exactly why the right option works and why distractors fail.
Incorrect. Trophozoites are formed inside human erythrocytes during the clinical erythrocytic cycle.
Correct. Sporozoites are the motile, infective parasitic form stored in mosquito salivary glands that enter human blood.
Incorrect. Gametocytes are ingested by mosquitoes from human blood, not injected into humans.
Incorrect for the same reason; gametocytes develop within the human host for transmission to mosquitoes.
The infective stage *for humans* is the Sporozoite (injected by mosquito). The infective stage *for mosquitoes* is the Gametocyte (ingested from human blood). Do not confuse the two hosts.
"Plasmodium enters the human body as sporozoites through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito."
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