Article ID: JJID.2015.604
Extensive application of routine insecticide i.e., Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) to control Phlebotomus argentipes (Diptera: Psychodidae), the proven vector of Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in India, had evoked the problem of resistance/ tolerance against DDT, eventually nullifying the DDT dependent strategies to handle the nuisance caused by them. Because tolerating an hour exposure of DDT is not so challenging for resistant P. argentipes, estimating susceptibility by exposing sand flies to insecticide for just an hour becomes trivial and futile task.
Therefore, present bioassay study was carried out to investigate the maximum limit of exposure time to which DDT resistant P. argentipes combat its effect for their survival. The mortality rate of laboratory reared DDT resistant strain P. argentipes exposed to DDT was studied at discriminating time intervals of 60 minutes and concluded that highly resistant sand flies can withstand up to 420 minutes of this insecticide exposure. Also, the Lethal time (LT) for female P. argentipes were observed to be higher than that of male suggesting its nature of being highly resistant to its toxicity. The result is supportive for monitoring the tolerance limit with respect to time and hence attribute towards an urgent need of change in rhetoric form of WHO protocol for susceptibility identification in resistant P. argentipes.
