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Plasmodium ovale

A species that is the agent of the least common form of human malaria; resembles plasmodium vivax in its earlier stages, but often modifies the cell membrane, causing it to form a fimbriated outline, and often assume an oval shape; schuffner's dots are abundant and appear early, host cells are normal or only slightly enlarged, and only about 8 to 10 grapelike merozoites are produced; fever is tertian (every 48 hours), and relapses are infrequent.