<P> The life cycle of Plasmodium involves several distinct stages in the insect and vertebrate hosts . In infected mosquitoes , parasites in the salivary gland are called sporozoites . When the mosquito bites a vertebrate host , sporozoites are injected into the host with the saliva . From there , the sporozoites enter the bloodstream and are transported to the liver , where they invade and replicate within hepatocytes . At this point , some species of Plasmodium can form a long - lived dormant stage called a hypnozoite which can remain in the liver for many years . The parasites that emerge from infected hepatocytes are called merozoites , and these return to the blood to infect red blood cells . </P>
<P> The life cycle of Plasmodium involves several distinct stages in the insect and vertebrate hosts . In infected mosquitoes , parasites in the salivary gland are called sporozoites . When the mosquito bites a vertebrate host , sporozoites are injected into the host with the saliva . From there , the sporozoites enter the bloodstream and are transported to the liver , where they invade and replicate within hepatocytes . At this point , some species of Plasmodium can form a long - lived dormant stage called a hypnozoite which can remain in the liver for many years . The parasites that emerge from infected hepatocytes are called merozoites , and these return to the blood to infect red blood cells . </P>
the infective stage of malarial parasite plasmodium that enters human body is
the infective stage of malarial parasite plasmodium that enters human body is
merozoites
merozoites