Exploring Malaria: A Science Quiz on its Unique Challenges

The Science Quiz is featured three times a week on the daily Science page, which readers can access every day except for Saturdays in the epaper. One of the questions in the quiz asks about the mosquito that transmits malaria, discovered by a British doctor in 1897. Another question focuses on the country that contributes to over half of the malaria cases in the World Health Organisation’s Southeast Asia region. The quiz also touches upon factors that can accelerate malaria transmission, such as global warming and insecticide resistance, and asks about the most commonly used antimalarial drug to which mosquitoes have developed resistance. In addition, the quiz highlights a country that made history in 2024 by launching the world’s first malaria vaccine as part of its immunization program, as well as the manufacturer that has established production capacity for a second malaria vaccine called R21/Matrix M.

For the visual question, the quiz asks about a chemist in 1939 who identified the insecticidal properties of DDT, leading to him receiving a Nobel Prize. The answers to these questions include Anopheles stephensi and Ronald Ross for the mosquito and doctor, respectively; India for the country contributing to malaria cases; Chloroquine for the antimalarial drug; Cameroon and the RTS,S vaccine for the history-making country and vaccine; and the Serum Institute of India for the manufacturer of the second malaria vaccine. The visual question answer is Paul Hermann Müller from Geigy Pharmaceutical who won a Nobel Prize for his work with DDT.