‘Dengue mosquito developed resistance against insecticides’

BSS :
Entomologists off late found the conventional insecticides appeared ineffective against dengue Aedes mosquitoes saying they visibly developed a natural resistance to two traditional toxicants used to kill the deadly insects or destroy their larva.

“Toxic substances (insecticides) have turned sub-insecticide, losing their efficacy against mosquitoes,” National Institute of Prevalence and Social Medicine or NIPSOM’s entomology department chief Professor Dr Md Golam Sharower told BSS on Tuesday.

The entomologist attributed the phenomenon to anti-mosquito workers inefficacy in applying the insecticides to kill the mosquitoes or destroy the larva with their traditional fogger machines.

NIPSOM entomologists said two particular insecticides, Malathion and Temephos, were currently being used to respectively kill mosquitoes and their larva.

But, Sharower said, workers assigned by two city corporations visibly could not properly spray the insecticides in appropriate dose for want of their knowledge, which largely made the dengue carrying mosquitoes resistant to the pesticides.

Jahangirnagar University’s Zoology professor Dr Kabirul Bashar, an entomologist by background, asserted that “it is very important to understand reproductive nature and life cycle of Aedes mosquito (in particular) to take effective measures to halt dengue assaults to save human lives”.

Bashar also echoed Sharower expressing his doubts about the practice of traditional methods to destroy Aedes.

City corporations of Dhaka north south – both under the purview of Local Government Ministry (LGD) of the Local government ministry-are mainly entrusted with the task of eradicating mosquitoes in the capital.