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Malaria Parasites Amid Red Blood Cells

The invasion has begun. Microscopic magnification shows Plasmodium falciparum—the most virulent of the four malaria parasites that infect humans—destroying red blood cells in the liver. It digests a cell's hemoglobin, multiplies inside to the point of rupturing the cell, and rapidly spreads a new generation of infection.

Photograph by Albert Bonniers Forlag