VietNamNet Bridge - More than 20 years ago, Ngo Giang Lien visited Khanh Hoa to conduct research on mosquitoes, later returning with malaria. But it was a trip that would ultimately make a difference in people's lives. 

“In the past, mosquito classification was based on morphological observation. Dr. Lien became the first scientist who laid down a new direction for research – based on chromosomes and she gave clear classifications about malaria-causing mosquitoes,” said Nguyen Tuyen Quang from National Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology.

With her achievements, she helped change the lives of thousands of people who could have been victims of malaria.

In the 1980s, Vietnamese knowledge about mosquitoes was very modest. In the early 1990s, a malaria epidemic caused 4,000 deaths. 

In the 1980s, Vietnamese knowledge about mosquitoes was very modest. In the early 1990s, a malaria epidemic caused 4,000 deaths.

Lien, who believed that defining the vector for disease transmission was the only way to fight the dangerous disease, decided to go to Khanh Hoa in 1993.

“There were numerous mosquitoes in Khanh Phu,” Lien recalled. Khanh Phu was a remote commune of Khanh Hoa province.

There, she turned herself into bait: she pulled up trousers to lure the insect, waiting for them to suck blood and she also caught them.

Quang said this was a very dangerous method but in Vietnam’s conditions, this was the best thing Lien could do to obtain specimens for research. 

Since many mosquitoes died during the process of carrying them to Hanoi, Lien decided to stay in Khanh Phu and set up a ‘laboratory’ there.

“I decided to build ‘houses’ for mosquitoes by setting water vats in the forests,” she said.

“Mosquitoes like staying in cold places after sucking blood. The ‘laboratory’ must be kept at the temperature of 18-22oC. That was the reason why I set the house under the canopy of old trees,” she explained.

Returning to Hanoi, Lien had to struggle with attacks of malaria. Tran Thi Uyen, a physician, who treated Lien, said Lien suffered from malignant malaria. 

“Her skin turned yellow, while lips turned black. She was in very bad condition and she could have perished if she had not been treated well,” Uyen said.

Tortured by malaria, Lien understands the pain that many malaria patients have to suffer, especially small children.

Ngo Giang Lien is the author and co-author of 20 scientific articles published in Vietnamese and international journals.

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