Malaria and Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)

Abstract

"The feeding habit of several insects has been linked to several diseases that plague humankind today. Among these disease vectors is the fatal human malaria infection which is initiated when an infected female Anopheline mosquito –Anopheles gambiae, injects sporozoites during a human blood meal. After injection, sporozoites enter the bloodstream and go to the liver, where they invade hepatocytes and develop into exoerythrocytic forms (Coppi et al., 2005). These liver stage parasites mature and are released into the Red Blood Cell (RBC) for erythrocytic stage, a form characterized with symptomatic malaria. Four species of the genus Plasmodium are responsible for the human malaria out of which P. falciparum stands out as the most lethal compared to P. vivax, P.malariae and P.ovale."