Novel Tests for Rapid Detection of Insecticide Resistance in Mosquito Vectors

During the third year of this contract, research emphasis was placed on the improvement and field evaluation of a practical test kit for the detection and monitoring of highly active esterases that are responsible for organophosphate insecticide resistance in mosquitoes. The evaluation of the test kit was performed on 40 field populations of mosquitoes in eight abatement districts in California and one in New Mexico. The results demonstrated the usefulness of the test kit in detecting Culex mosquitoes that are resistant to organophosphates due to the presence of highly active esterases. Other research has provided information on the geographical distribution of various highly active esterases in the U.S. and certain foreign countries, and on the classical and molecular genetics of these esterases. Keywords Resistance biology Insecticides Mosquitoes Resistance mechanisms Esterases Acetylcholinesterase Gene amplification Resistance detection Test methods.