[thedoc (OP)]

Torry  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi Chris

When a person had malaria and another mosquito bites that person can that mosquito became a malaria carrying mosquito?

Thanks
Torry Coetzee

What do you think?

[CliffordK]

Yes,

Mosquitoes become carriers of malaria from sucking human blood.   There are no major animal reservoirs of malaria, other than perhaps some primates.

[Don_1]

Most certainly yes.

[confusious says]

Yes, that is how most of the malaria is spread, I think that other animals being bitten that are carrying malaria also do this.

[yellowcat]

Yes, that is how malaria is spread.
I am not sure if this has been tested but I would expect that people with malaria would be more attractive to mosquitos and that infected mosquitos would be more inclined to feed from uninfected people.

[tangoblue]

Yes, a mosquito (anopheles most of the time in sure 'bites' an infected human, becomes infected, bites another human and the cycle continues.  So if a mosquito did NOT become infected when it bit an infected human, malaria's life cycle would be broken.

Scientists have actually tried to do this as a way of stopping malaria.

Malaria life-cycle: http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/