Comparative toxicity of larvicides and growth inhibitors on from select areas in Jamaica.

Insecticide resistance has become problematic in tropical and subtropical regions, where mosquitoes and -borne arboviral diseases thrive. With the recent occurrence of chikungunya and the Zika virus in Jamaica, the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Jamaica, partnered with the United States Agency for International Development to implement multiple intervention activities to reduce the populations in seven parishes across the island and to assess the susceptibility of collected samples to various concentrations of temephos, subsp. (Bti), diflubenzuron and methoprene. Of the insecticides tested, only temephos has been used in routine larviciding activities in the island. The results showed that only temephos at concentrations 0.625 ppm and Bti at concentrations 6-8 ppm were effective at causing 98-100% mortality of local at 24 h exposure. Surprisingly, the growth inhibitors diflubenzuron and methoprene had minimal effect at preventing adult emergence in larvae in the populations tested. The results demonstrate the need for insecticide resistance testing as a routine part of vector control monitoring activies in order to determine useful tools that may be incorporated to reduce the abundance of .