>> Mosquitos are usually
vegetarian preferring
to drink nectar, fruit
juices, and honey dew.
Only a pregnant mosquito will
bite humans seeking nutrients
from blood to nourish
her developing eggs.
If she drink bloods from
someone infected with Malaria,
she too becomes infected
with the disease.
The tiny drop of blood
filling the insect's stomach,
is teaming with Malaria
parasites.
The parasite form that is deadly
inside humans cannot survive
in the mosquito's stomach,
and it's slowly digested
with the rest of her blood meal.
However, back in the human host,
a few of the parasites turned
into a different type of cell,
one that is sexual
but remains dormant.
Malaria sixth is triggered when
the warm human blood begins
to cool inside the
insect's stomach.
The female form of the
parasite matures into an egg.
The male form takes a while
longer to mature into sperm.
This sperm is from
an earlier feed.
The fertilized cell
can glide and begins
to explore its new environment.
It migrates to the outer lining
of the mosquito's stomach
before transforming into a cyst.
Each cyst produces thousands
of thin, tiny parasites,
which seek out and infest the
mosquito's salivary glands.
The next time this
mosquito bites a victim,
the Malaria parasite will
ride in with her saliva
and infect another human.
This year, 10% of people
on Earth will be struck
down with Malaria.
Most people who die from the
disease will be pregnant women
and children under
the age of five.
