Games

Help us to kill the parasites!

We want to design a vaccine which will kill all forms of the parasite that causes malaria. However, these parasites are cunning and change their surface coats to escape detection. Have a go at our parasite killing game to see how we might be able to kill them all.

In the game, there are six bottles of antibodies of different colours. By clicking on a bottle, those antibodies are used to fill the syringe. Then click on the syringe and the antibodies are fired at the pesky parasites. Work out how you would clear the infection.

We have made a few things simpler in our game!! The main thing is that you will be firing antibodies molecules at the parasites. Antibodies are molecules that our bodies make in order to protect us from invading organisms. It is possible to give people antibodies directly, to treat diseases or to protect them for a while from an invading pathogen. But this is not how a vaccine works. A vaccine will train our bodies to make these antibodies themselves.

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Please note that these games work best using the ‘chrome’ browser.

How would you stop malaria on a treasure island?

Imagine that you are the health minister of an Island. It is a beautiful tropical paradise, but is sadly riddled with malaria. The island has four distinct zones with different levels of population and different levels of malaria infection. Many people live in the wet south-eastern zone, but the lakes are a great breeding place for the mosquitos which cause malaria. In contrast, the south-western forests are also great breeding places, but not well populated. The north-western mountains are populous and with little malaria, while the north-eastern deserts are deserted and there is little opportunity for the mosquitoes to breed. The people of the Island become strangely red when they get malaria and so you can see its effect!

You have a pile of gold doubloons which you can spend each year on measures to prevent malaria. Use the + and – buttons to allocate your budget to bednets, medicines or vaccines and see how your choices affect who gets malaria across the island. You can also choose which sectors of the island to give funds, by clicking on those parts of the island. Finally, try out the ‘max vax’ button. This converts the vaccine from the best malaria vaccine currently available to the 100% effective vaccine that we aim to produce. See how you can save this island from malaria.

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Please note that these games work best using the ‘chrome’ browser.

^{These games were developed with Dave and Amber Griffiths at https://fo.am and funded by Wellcome.}