Recent rapid rise of a permethrin knock down resistance allele in Aedes aegypti in México.

• Published in: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Gustavo Ponce García, Adriana E Flores, Ildefonso Fernández-Salas, Karla Saavedra-Rodríguez, Guadalupe Reyes-Solis, Saul Lozano-Fuentes, J Guillermo Bond, Mauricio Casas-Martínez, Janine M Ramsey, Julián García-Rejón, Marco Domínguez-Galera, Hilary Ranson, Janet Hemingway, Lars Eisen, William C Black IV
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000531; https://doaj.org/article/9f6a6e2602db463f9c7babdf56cf6d36

BACKGROUND:Aedes aegypti, the 'yellow fever mosquito', is the primary vector to humans of dengue and yellow fever flaviviruses (DENV, YFV), and is a known vector of the chikungunya alphavirus (CV). Because vaccines are not yet available for DENV or CV or are inadequately distributed in developing countries (YFV), management of Ae. aegypti remains the primary option to prevent and control outbreaks of the diseases caused by these arboviruses. Permethrin is one of the most widely used active ingredients in insecticides for suppression of adult Ae. aegypti. In 2007, we documented a replacement mutation in codon 1,016 of the voltage-gated sodium channel gene (para) of Ae. aegypti that encodes an isoleucine rather than a valine and confers resistance to permethrin. Ile1,016 segregates as a recessive allele conferring knockdown resistance to homozygous mosquitoes at 5-10 microg of permethrin in bottle bioassays. METHODS AND FINDINGS:A total of 81 field collections containing 3,951 Ae. aegypti were made throughout México from 1996 to 2009. These mosquitoes were analyzed for the frequency of the Ile1,016 mutation using a melting-curve PCR assay. Dramatic increases in frequencies of Ile1,016 were recorded from the late 1990's to 2006-2009 in several states including Nuevo León in the north, Veracruz on the central Atlantic coast, and Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas in the south. From 1996 to 2000, the overall frequency of Ile1,016 was 0.04% (95% confidence interval (CI95) = 0.12%; n = 1,359 mosquitoes examined). The earliest detection of Ile1,016 was in Nuevo Laredo on the U.S. border in 1997. By 2003-2004 the overall frequency of Ile1,016 had increased approximately 100-fold to 2.7% (+ or - 0.80% CI95; n = 808). When checked again in 2006, the frequency had increased slightly to 3.9% (+ or - 1.15% CI95; n = 473). This was followed in 2007-2009 by a sudden jump in Ile1,016 frequency to 33.2% (+ or - 1.99% CI95; n = 1,074 mosquitoes). There was spatial heterogeneity in Ile1,016 frequencies among 2007-2008 collections, ...