Open AccessMonitoring of Insecticide Resistance and Exploring the Presence of Virus in Field Populations of Culex gelidus at Thiruvarur District of Tamil Nadu, India
Author(s) -
Jayalakshmi Krishnan,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of communicable diseases/journal of communicable diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2581-351X
pISSN - 0019-5138
DOI - 10.24321/0019.5138.202177
Subject(s) - malathion , deltamethrin , biology , vector (molecular biology) , veterinary medicine , culex quinquefasciatus , culex , tamil , insecticide resistance , toxicology , arbovirus , permethrin , larva , virology , virus , pesticide , ecology , aedes aegypti , medicine , biochemistry , linguistics , philosophy , gene , recombinant dna
The introduction of potent synthetic insecticides into public health programmes has since beginning posed the challenge of development of resistance among the insect vectors against the insecticides. Culex (Cx.) gelidus is one of the vectors of JE which is abundantly found in southern India. Its breeding habitats are similar to the vishnui subgroup of Culex mosquitoes, the major vectors for transmission of JE. The present study was aimed to assess the susceptibility status of adult Culex (Cx.) gelidus, to insecticides, namely DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), Deltamethrin, and Malathion. Method: The field-collected mosquito larvae from ten villages of Thiruvarur district from December 2018 to May 2019 were reared in the laboratory until F1 generation and the emerged adults identified as Cx. gelidus were exposed to insecticide-impregnated papers supplied through World Health Organization (WHO). The adult susceptibility tests were carried out as per the protocol of WHO. Further, an attempt was made to check the presence of JE virus in Cx. gelidus and the virus detection was done by RT-PCR. Results: The results indicated that the adult Cx. gelidus populations were susceptible to DDT, whereas they were resistant to Malathion and Deltamethrin. The possible reason of DDT susceptibility may be that DDT has not been used in Tamil Nadu since the year 1980 (about 40 years). Conclusion: JE virus was not detected in the tested mosquitoes. The study suggests that insecticide resistance monitoring from time to time is required to facilitate vector control programmes in focusing on appropriate vector control measures.