Course Introduction | Overview | Plasmodium falciparum | Plasmodium vivax
Plasmodium ovale | Plasmodium malariae | Other infections | Tests
Here we see trophozoites and a gametocyte. Gametocytes may resemble mature trophozoites. Notice that the trophozoites are vacuolated, and the gametocyte has a much more dense mass of chromatin and a nucleus.
It is difficult to distinguish these stages on the thick smear, or to discern exactly what they are.
The rings at this stage are difficult to distinguish from the rings of the other three malaria species.