[header] How to differentiate between malaria, dengue, and chikungunya [title] Know what causes malaria. [step] Malaria is caused by plasmodium, a single-celled parasite often transmitted by infected mosquitoes. [substeps] The parasite is injected into a person's circulatory system through the saliva of the mosquito. 
It then travels to the liver where it will mature and reproduce. When the plasmodium matures, it will infect red blood cells until they burst.