Pyrethroid resistance alters the blood-feeding behavior in Puerto Rican Aedes aegypti mosquitoes exposed to treated fabric

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Sep 20;11(9):e0005954. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005954. eCollection 2017 Sep.

Abstract

Emerging insecticide resistance is a major issue for vector control. It decreases the effectiveness of insecticides, thereby requiring greater quantities for comparable control with a net increase in risk of disease resurgence, product cost, and damage risk to the ecosystem. Pyrethroid resistance has been documented in Puerto Rican populations of Aedes aegypti (L.) mosquitoes. In this study, topical toxicity of five insecticides (permethrin, etofenprox, deltamethrin, DDT, transfluthrin) was determined for susceptible (Orlando-ORL) and resistant (Puerto Rico-PR) strains of Ae. aegypti. Resistance ratios were calculated using LD50 values, and high resistance ratios for permethrin (112) and etofenprox (228) were observed for the Puerto Rico strain. Behavioral differences in blood-feeding activity for pyrethroid-resistant and pyrethroid-susceptible strains of Ae. aegypti when exposed to pyrethroid-treated cloth were also explored. Strains were exposed for 15 min to a range of concentrations of pyrethroid-treated uniform fabric in a cage that contained 60 female Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. Interestingly, the resistance ratios for blood-feeding were similar for permethrin (61) and etofenprox (70), but were lower than their respective resistance ratios for topical toxicity, suggesting that knockdown resistance was the primary mechanism of resistance in the blood feeding assays. Results showed a rightward shift in the dose-response curves for blood-feeding that indicated higher concentrations of pyrethroids were necessary to deter blood-feeding behavior in the pyrethroid-resistant Puerto Rican strain of Ae. aegypti.

MeSH terms

  • Aedes / drug effects*
  • Aedes / physiology
  • Animals
  • Feeding Behavior / drug effects
  • Female
  • Insecticide Resistance*
  • Insecticides / pharmacology*
  • Puerto Rico
  • Pyrethrins / pharmacology*
  • Textiles

Substances

  • Insecticides
  • Pyrethrins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Deployed War-Fighter Protection Research Program and funded by the United States Department of Defense through the Armed Forces Pest Management Board to URB. Additional funding was through USDA Cooperative Research Agreement 58-6615-4-023 to JRB. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.