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Plasmodium Falciparum WELCH, 1897

Does Direct Division of the Parasite Precede Schizogony?

The method of propagation of the malaria parasites has been credited by the majority of the investigators of these protozoon to multiple division, i.e., schizogony; and this is the only method credited in the text books of today. Yet, according to Scheube¹ some of the earlier investigators, notably Grassi and Felletti, disagreed with this view, holding that multiplication was by direct division.

However, the evidence in favor of schizogony was overwhelming, not only from a morphological standpoint, but it also found support in the etiology of malarial fevers, in that sporulation of the parasites coincided with the onset of the febril attack. This fact, no doubt, was chiefly responsible for the theory of direct division being entirely ignored.

Nevertheless, it is my opinion that in some of the parasites of estivo-autumnal malaria, P. falciparum, there does occur a direct division, the parasite splitting in two, with the daughter organisms being of equal size.

¹ Scheube, B.: The Diseases of Warm Countries. 2nd edition. Philadelphia, Pa., p. 104.