What is Malaria? Malaria is a serious mosquito-borne disease caused by Plasmodium parasites, which transmit to people through the bites of infective female Anopheles mosquitoes. The mosquito transmission cycle of malaria begins with the release of immature forms of the plasmodium, or sporozoites, into the bitten person’s bloodstream through the saliva of infective mosquitoes. After plasmodium enters the...