Human Malaria Transmission: Reconciling Field and Laboratory Data

The human malaria parasite life cycle appears deceptively simple because it involves only one species of vertebrate host (humans) and anopheline mosquitoes to transmit the pathogen. However, a number of host, vector, and pathogen factors have evolved that interact with ecological and logistic considerations to determine whether transmission of the parasite from a mosquito to a human, or the converse, will successfully occur.