Open AccessMapping trends in insecticide resistance phenotypes in African malaria vectors
Author(s) -
Penelope A. Hancock,
Chantal Hendriks,
Julie Anne A. Tangena,
Harry S. Gibson,
Janet Hemingway,
Michael Coleman,
Peter W. Gething,
Ewan Cameron,
Samir Bhatt,
Catherine L. Moyes
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.127
H-Index - 271
eISSN - 1545-7885
pISSN - 1544-9173
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000633
Subject(s) - biology , insecticide resistance , anopheles gambiae , resistance (ecology) , malaria , vector (molecular biology) , mosquito control , toxicology , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , genetics , gene , immunology , recombinant dna
Mitigating the threat of insecticide resistance in African malaria vector populations requires comprehensive information about where resistance occurs, to what degree, and how this has changed over time. Estimating these trends is complicated by the sparse, heterogeneous distribution of observations of resistance phenotypes in field populations. We use 6,423 observations of the prevalence of resistance to the most important vector control insecticides to inform a Bayesian geostatistical ensemble modelling approach, generating fine-scale predictive maps of resistance phenotypes in mosquitoes from the Anopheles gambiae complex across Africa. Our models are informed by a suite of 111 predictor variables describing potential drivers of selection for resistance. Our maps show alarming increases in the prevalence of resistance to pyrethroids and DDT across sub-Saharan Africa from 2005 to 2017, with mean mortality following insecticide exposure declining from almost 100% to less than 30% in some areas, as well as substantial spatial variation in resistance trends.