Malaria Life Cycle

From the Wellcome Trust, these animations show the life cycle of the malaria parasite. They illustrate how the parasite develops in the mosquito before being transmitted to a human host following a blood meal.

The protozoan then develops inside the host's liver and red blood cells, causing the symptoms of malaria and releasing further parasites that are capable of infecting a mosquito to complete the cycle.

Two animations illustrate the stages that occur in the mosquito and human parts of the life cycle.

The animations contain a lot of detail and can be used with students aged 16+ to illustrate transmission of the disease and the parasite's life cycle. They may be used with younger students as an extension to their learning.

Please note: From 2021, Adobe has discontinued support for Flash player and as a result some interactive files may no longer be playable. As an alternative method to accessing these files a group of volunteers passionate about the preservation of internet history have created project Ruffle (https://ruffle.rs/). Ruffle is an entirely open source project that you can download and run many interactive Flash resources. For further information regarding STEM Learning’s policy for website content, please visit our terms and conditions page.