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Describe how the malarial parasite affects a red blood cell in a person without the sickle-cell mutation (3-5 sentences):

User Dallas Caley
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26 votes

Answer:

Invasion by the malaria parasite brings about extensive changes in the host red cells. These include loss of the normal discoid shape, increased rigidity of the membrane, elevated permeability to a wide variety of ionic and other species, and increased adhesiveness, most notably to endothelial surfaces. Now, sickle cells have membranes, stretched by their unusual shape, that become porous and leak nutrients that the parasites need to survive and the faulty cells eventually get eliminated quite fast by the organisms, destroying the parasite along the way.

I hope this helps :)

User Rlhh
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