How to make evolution-proof insecticides for malaria control

Insecticides are one of the cheapest, most effective, and best proven methods of controlling malaria, but mosquitoes can rapidly evolve resistance. Such evolution, first seen in the 1950s in areas of widespread DDT use, is a major challenge because attempts to comprehensively control and even elimin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS biology 2009-04, Vol.7 (4), p.e1000058
Main Authors: Read, Andrew F, Lynch, Penelope A, Thomas, Matthew B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Animals
Bedding and Linens
Biological Evolution
Culicidae - genetics
Ecology
Evolution
Evolutionary Biology
Females
Fitness equipment
Housing
Infectious Diseases
Insect Vectors - genetics
Insecticide Resistance - genetics
Insecticides
Insecticides - standards
Malaria
Malaria - prevention & control
Mortality
Mosquito Control - methods
Mosquitoes
Population
Public Health and Epidemiology
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Summary:Insecticides are one of the cheapest, most effective, and best proven methods of controlling malaria, but mosquitoes can rapidly evolve resistance. Such evolution, first seen in the 1950s in areas of widespread DDT use, is a major challenge because attempts to comprehensively control and even eliminate malaria rely heavily on indoor house spraying and insecticide-treated bed nets. Current strategies for dealing with resistance evolution are expensive and open ended, and their sustainability has yet to be demonstrated. Here we show that if insecticides targeted old mosquitoes, and ideally old malaria-infected mosquitoes, they could provide effective malaria control while only weakly selecting for resistance. This alone would greatly enhance the useful life span of an insecticide. However,such weak selection for resistance can easily be overwhelmed if resistance is associated with fitness costs. In that case, late-life-acting insecticides would never be undermined by mosquito evolution.We discuss a number of practical ways to achieve this, including different use of existing chemical insecticides,biopesticides, and novel chemistry. Done right, a one-off investment in a single insecticide would solve the problem of mosquito resistance forever.
ISSN:1545-7885
1544-9173
1545-7885
DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000058