Their sensitivity to insecticides is also highly variable. Plasmodium develops in the gut of the mosquito and is passed on in the saliva of an infected insect each time it takes a new blood meal. This induces bouts of fever and anaemia in the infected individual. In cerebral malaria, the infected red cells obstruct the blood vessels in the brain. Other vital organs can also be damaged often leading to the death of the patient.
Malaria is diagnosed by the clinical symptoms and microscopic examination of the blood.
It can normally be cured by antimalalial drugs. The symptoms, fever, shivering, pain in the joints and headache, quickly disappear once the parasite is killed. In certain regions, however, the parasites have developed resistance to certain antimalarial drugs, particularly chloroquine. Patients in these areas require treatment with other more expensive drugs. Cases of severe disease including cerebral malaria require hospital care.