Plasmodium ovale

Why in news?

• A not very common type of malaria, Plasmodium ovale, has been identified in a jawan in Kerala. The soldier is believed to have contracted it during his posting in Sudan, from where he returned nearly a year ago, and where Plasmodium ovale is endemic.

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.
• In India, out of 1.57 lakh malaria cases in the high-burden states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh in 2019, 1.1 lakh cases (70%) were cases of falciparum malaria, according to a statement by the Health Ministry.
• The recent World Malaria Report 2020 said cases in India dropped from about 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.

Plasmodium ovale:

• P ovale malaria is endemic to tropical Western Africa.
•  P ovale is relatively unusual outside of Africa and, where found, comprises less than 1% of the isolates.
• It has also been detected in the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, but is still relatively rate in these areas.
• It is termed ovale as about 20% of the parasitised cells are oval in shape.
• Plasmodium ovale rarely causes severe illness and cases of local transmission has been rare.
• P Ovale is very similar to P vivax, which is not a killer form.
• Symptoms include fever, headache and nausea, and the treatment modality is the same as it is for a person infected with P vivax.

Prelims Question

Consider the following statements regarding Malaria:
1.Most cases of Malaria are caused by a parasite known as Plasmodium Ovale.
2.The most common vector of malaria is Female culex mosquitoes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 
(a)1 only 
(b)2 only 
(c)Both 1 and 2 
(d)Neither 1 nor 2 

Answer to prelims question