Question

How does malaria differ from chikungunya with reference to their vectors?

Answer 1

A wide range of organisms could cause diseases in man. Such disease causing organisms are called pathogens e.g., bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoans, helminths etc. They damages the internal functioning of the organs

Complete answer:
Most parasites are therefore pathogens as they cause harm to the host body by living in or on them. The pathogens can enter our body by various means, multiply and interfere with normal vital activities, resulting in morphological and functional damage. Pathogens have to adapt to life within the environment of the host.
Chikungunya :
It is caused by Chikungunya virus. This virus was first isolated from human patients and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from Tanzania in 1952. The name 'Chikungunya' is derived from the native word for the disease in which a patient walks "doubled up" due to severe joint pain.
Its symptoms include sudden onset of fever, crippling joint pain, lymphadenopathy and conjunctivitis. Some show hemorrhagic manifestations
No vaccine is available.
Malaria :
Pathogen: Malaria is caused by Plasmodium, a tiny protozoan. Different species of Plasmodium which attack humans are P.vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale and P. falciparum
Mode of transmission: Malarial parasite (Plasmodium) requires two hosts to complete its life cycle: Human, (ii) Mosquito (female Anopheles) which is the vector/transmitting agent too. Plasmodium enters the human body as sporozoites (infectious form) through the bite of infected female Anopheles.
Life-history: When an infected female Anopheles bites a human to suck blood, it also injects the malarial parasites into the human blood with its saliva. This infective stage of Plasmodium is a minute sickle-shaped sporozoite. Sporozoites are inoculated in thousands into the human blood. In about half an hour the sporozoites disappear from the bloodstream and enter the parenchymatous cells of the liver to escape from phagocytic white blood corpuscles and multiply their own number.
Schizogony: Each sporozoite grows in the liver cell to form a large and rounded schizont, which divides to form about 1,000 small spindle-shaped merozoites. The multiple fission is called schizogony. The schizont ruptures and merozoites are liberated into liver venous passages (sinusoids). This phase of reproduction is termed as the pre-erythrocytic phase and in this the merozoites are also called cryptozoites; they are immune to medicines and also to the resistance of the host.
Hence chikungunya is a viral disease and malaria is a protozoan disease

Note:
For diseases such as malaria and filariasis that are transmitted through insect vectors, the most important measure is to control or eliminate the vectors and their breeding places. This can be achieved by avoiding stagnation of water in and around residential areas, regular cleaning of household coolers, introducing fishes like Gambusia in ponds that feed on mosquito larvae, spraying insecticide and oil in ditches, drainage areas and swamps.