Milestones for Malaria: Parasite, mosquito genes decoded

About every 30 seconds, another child dies from malaria somewhere in the world. Two organisms, the parasite Plasmodium falciparum and the mosquito Anopheles gambiae, are responsible for most of those deaths. While feeding on human blood, the insect can infect people with the fatal parasite.

PARASITE POWER. In a complicated life cycle (illustration), the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum (inset, bottom right, with 2-micrometer scale bar) goes through several stages in a mosquito species, such as Anopheles gambiae (inset, upper left).