Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Florida are most resistant to a common insecticide around dusk but most susceptible between midnight and dawn, a new study finds. A key contributing factor observed by researchers is that five key genes that produce detoxifying enzymes in the mosquitoes are affected by changes in light over 24-hour cycles. Here, a mosquito is treated with a droplet of insecticide in a lab during the study. (Photo courtesy of Sierra Schluep)
By Ed Ricciuti
Ed Ricciuti
The success of treating mosquitoes with insecticide at one time of day versus another can be as different as night and day—literally. Permethrin-resistant wild Aedes aegypti mosquitoes observed during a study in Florida were most susceptible to the insecticide from the witching hour to sunrise. Resistance then rose during the day, when the…
