Overview: Plasmodium spp. are protozoan parasites and the most severe cause of human malaria, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Transmission: Vector borne – The infection is caused by a unicellular parasite of the genus Plasmodium and is spread by female Anopheles mosquito vectors.

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Disease: The parasite infects red blood cells (RBCs), leading to microvascular sequestration and inflammatory pathology. Symptoms of a classic malaria infection involve fatigue, fever, sweating, body aches, headache and occasionally vomiting. Despite significant efforts towards eradication, there are still 247 million cases of  malaria recorded per year, leading to 619 000 deaths globally. Most of the deaths occur in children under 5 years old.

Microscopy is not only important for research. Despite modern diagnostics, microscopy is still uses as gold standard for malaria diagnosis.

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Risk group: P. falciparum is generally handled under BSL-2 containment for routine in vitro blood-stage culture. However, mosquito infection studies require BSL-3 containment.

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Imaging sites within Germany:

Heidelberg University Medical Faculty - CIID/ IDIP

Universitätsklinikum Tübingen

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​Additional resources: 

(Work in progress)