Descriptions of the World Health Organization standard methods of assessing susceptibility or resistance in larval and in adult mosquitoes are presented, and the evaluation of their results are discussed. Other susceptibility test methods are also mentioned, including those based on esterase zymograms. Recent work on the biochemical mechanisms of resistance and cross-resistance are reviewed, al...

The treaty on persistent organic pollutants—POPs—will be finalised at the United Nations Environment Programme meeting in Johannesburg, 4-9 December. One proposal is to ban DDT, still used by many countries for controlling the mosquitoes that spread malaria. It should not be banned, argue Amir Attaran and Rajendra Maharaj, specialists in malariology and also international development and law—th...

The ladybird Propylaea japonica (Thunberg) is one of most important natural enemies of aphids in China. This species is threatened by the extensive use of insecticides but genomics-based information on the molecular mechanisms underlying insecticide resistance is limited. Hence, we analyzed the transcriptome and expression profile data of P. japonica in order to gain a deeper understanding of i...

Oxidative stress plays numerous biological roles, both functional and pathological. The role of oxidative stress in various epidemiologically relevant biological traits in Anopheles mosquitoes is not well established. In this study, the effects of oxidative stress on the longevity and insecticide resistance phenotype in the major malaria vector species An. arabiensis and An. funestus were exami...

In order to establish the insecticide susceptibility status for Anopheles darlingi in Colombia, and as part of the National Network on Insecticide Resistance Surveillance, five populations of insects from three Colombian states were evaluated. Standardised WHO and CDC bottle bioassays, in addition to microplate biochemical assays, were conducted. Populations with mortality rates below 80% in th...

Action threshold-based insecticide spray regimens were evaluated for control of tomato fruitworm (Helicoverpa zea [Boddie]) in freshmarket tomatoes in eastern Virginia in 1998 and 1999. The initial foliar-applied insecticide spray was made based on the presence of X1 H. zea egg on either X2%, X10% or X20% of plants sampled, while subsequent sprays were made on either a weekly basis or only if X...

18 Netting window screens and eave baffles (WSEBs), allowing mosquitoes to enter but not exit 19 from houses, were assessed as an alternative to indoor residual spraying (IRS) for malaria vector 20 control. WSEBs treated with water, the pyrethroid lambda-cyhalothrin (LC), or the 21 organophosphate pirimiphos-methyl (PM), with and without a binding agent (BA) for increasing 22 insecticide persis...