image: By one week after an infected bloodmeal, the oocyst stage of the malaria parasite forms relatively large round bodies in the wall of the mosquito stomach. The parasites are stained red, making them easy to count. After several more days in a live mosquito, these oocysts would rupture, releasing thousands of sporozoite stage parasites, which enter the mosquito salivary glands and are injected along with saliva at the next bite. The injection of sporozoites infects that person. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Feb. 4, 2011, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Michelle Riehle of Institut Pasteur and CNRS in Paris, France, and colleagues was titled, "A Cryptic Subgroup of Anopheles gambiae Is Highly Susceptible to Human Malaria Parasites." view more
Credit: Kenneth Vernick