Insecticide susceptibility status on Aedes aegypti (Linn) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) of Chittorgarh district, Rajasthan, India

Vector-borne diseases are a major burden to human health. It accounts for more than 17% of the total infectious diseases and causes more than 0.7 million deaths annually. Mosquitoes are potential vectors for many vector-borne diseases that cause illness to public health, globally. Vector species of the genus Aedes i.e., Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are the vector for many arboviruses such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika in India. Dengue is one of the most prevalent viral infections causing a high number of cases throughout the world and resistance to insecticides can be a reason for the failure of vector control strategies. This study was carried out to check the degree of resistance among these vectors in the Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan, India through standard World Health Organization protocol. The resistance was monitored to pyrethroids i.e., deltamethrin (0.05%), permethrin (0.75%), alphacypermethrin (0.05%); organochlorine i.e., DDT (4%), and an organo-phosphate larvicide i.e., temephos (0.02 mg/L) in both vector species. Complete resistance to DDT was observed among all tested populations of both species. All tested populations of Aedes albopictus were found susceptible to pyrethroids. Aedes aegypti was found resistant in the Mangalwad population, unconfirmed resistant in Bho-palsagar and Rashmi populations while the remaining are susceptible to permethrin. The Mangalwad population was also found unconfirmed resistant to deltamethrin and alphacypermethrin. Larvae of both species were found susceptible to temephos. Decreasing the use of DDT will help to reduce the impact on human health and envi-ronmental contamination. However, temephos as a larvicide, deltamethrin, and alphacypermethrin as an adul-ticide can be used in critical disease outbreaks at a minimum concentration as mosquitoes are found susceptible in the study area.