World Malaria Day
Every 25th of April is celebrated as World Malaria Day. I am going to tell you the story of how Ronald Ross discovered malaria.
One doctor had seen tiny germs in the blood of one of his patients through a microscope, but could not understand how they got there. Ronald Ross' professor thought these germs may be carried by mosquitoes.
Ronald Ross used to spend a lot of his time chasing mosquitoes and catching them so that he could observe them clearly. He carried empty bottles and chased the mosquitoes, then he would put them in a mosquito net where there was a patient infected with malaria, there the mosquitoes would bite the patient. These patients were paid money for allowing to be bit by a mosquito.
Ronald Ross used to cut open the mosquitoes' stomach and peep into it. It used to be very hot in his lab, but he could not on the fan because all the mosquitoes will fly off with the wind.
Ronald Ross spent months with the microscope, but could not find anything. One day he caught a few mosquitoes that looked different from the rest. They were brownish with spotted wings. When Ross saw inside the stomach of a female mosquito, he found the same tiny germs that were in the blood of those patients. Finally he had proof, mosquitoes spread malaria.
While I was searching on the net I found out that there are over 40 million cases of malaria and over 40,000 people die world-wide due to malaria every year! I know that even though mosquitoes are small, they are quite harmful. I try to apply mosquito repellent every time I go outside(most of the time I forget). When i'm outside, I keep moving so that the mosquitoes don't get the chance to bite me. Sometimes I even use the mosquito bat inside our house.
So to conclude, malaria is a preventable disease, provided that everyone spreads awareness, takes precautions and takes action.
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