Which disease is caused by Plasmodium and transmitted by mosquitoes?

• A. Malaria
• B. Dengue
• C. Lyme disease
• D. Ebola

Answer: (A)

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites and is spread by Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasite's life cycle starts when a mosquito bites an infected person, injects sporozoites into the bloodstream, and these travel to the liver to multiply before infecting red blood cells. This chain of events links both the organism (Plasmodium) and the vector (mosquito) directly to the disease.

Dengue, in contrast, is caused by a dengue virus and is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, a virus rather than a parasite. Lyme disease comes from the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted by ticks, not mosquitoes. Ebola is caused by the Ebola virus and spreads mainly through direct contact with bodily fluids, not via mosquitoes.

So the disease that fits both parts of the description—caused by Plasmodium and transmitted by mosquitoes—is malaria.