Table 1.

Prevalence and features of human blood stage malaria parasites.

Parasite species	Prevalence	Erythrocyte stage life cycle duration	Merozoite numbers in matured IRBCs	Cytoadherence capacity and organs where adherence occurs	Frequency of causing severe illnesses and fatality	References
P. falciparum	Worldwide (high prevalence in Africa)	48 h	8–24	Strong; in most organs, including skin, intestine and placenta	Often causes severe illnesses, highly fatal	(53)
P. vivax	Asia, Latin America, some parts of Africa	48 h	12–18	Weak; mostly in lungs	Mostly uncomplicated malaria, occasionally fatal	(53)
P. ovale	Africa, Western pacific islands	48 h	8–16	Absent	Mostly uncomplicated malaria, fatality is rare	(53, 54)
P. malariae	Worldwide	72 h	6–12	Absent	Mostly uncomplicated malaria, fatality is rare	(53, 54)
P. knowlesi	Southeast Asia	24 h	Up to 16	Weak; in lungs, and likely brain and other organs	Uncomplicated to severe illnesses (60–70% of infected cases develop ARDSa)	(8, 9, 55)

^aARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome.