sporozoite

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Introduction

Elongated body resulting from repeated division of the oocyst during sporogony. The initial form is a sporoblast, which develops into a sporocyst & eventually a sporozoite.

In the case of malaria, it is the form concentrated in the salivary glands. The sporozoite is injected into the bloodstream via a mosquitoe bite. It enters hepatocytes where it undergoes merogony to form merozoites which infect erythrocytes resulting in the intermittent fever of malaria.

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References

  1. Stedman's Medical Dictionary 26th ed, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 1995