The parasitic one-celled organism that causes the disease coccidiosis is from the same class (Sporozoa) as the organisms that cause malaria. Parasites from this class form spores at some stage of their life cycle.

The life cycle involves two stages. An asexual stage or schizogony and a sexual stage called sporogony. In the case of malaria, the schizogony stage takes place in man and the sporogony stage in the mosquito. The genus Eimeria undergoes all of its stages in one host, in this case the goat.