Insecticide resistance: comparative study in New Caledonia and French Guiana on modes of gene selection and transfer in Aedes aegypti

Pyrethroid insecticides like deltamethrin have been widely used to tackle Aedes aegypti, resulting in the spread of resistance alleles worldwide. A laboratory-based collaborative study by the Institut Pasteur de la Guyane, the Institut Pasteur de Nouvelle-Calédonie and the Institut Pasteur supports the theory that strategies to stop deltamethrin spraying are likely to fail when the frequencies of resistant alleles are too high and the fitness cost of stopping using this insecticide does not lead to a reduction in these frequencies. In dead-end situations like in French Guiana, where alternative insecticides are not available, alternative control strategies may be highly beneficial for vector control, particularly if they favor the introgression of susceptible alleles in natural populations.

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