Plasmodium

a genus of protozoans (see SPOROZOA ) that live as parasites within human red blood cells and liver cells. The parasite undergoes its asexual development (see SCHIZOGONY ) in humans and completes the sexual phase of its development (see SPOROGONY ) in the stomach and digestive glands of a bloodsucking ANOPHELES mosquito. Four species cause MALARIA : P. vivax, P. ovale, P. falciparum, and P. malariae.