INSECTICIDE resistance in malarial mosquitoes could be wiped out for good, paradoxically by using slow-killing agents.
The World Health Organization recommends fast-acting insecticides for . But such agents stop mosquitoes from reproducing, giving any insect that resists them an enormous competitive advantage. As this drives the evolution of resistance, Andrew Read at Pennsylvania State University in University Park decided to examine what happened if this selection pressure was removed by only killing elderly mosquitoes that had already laid eggs.
This could be achieved using slow-killing insecticides, which should still stop malaria transmission as mosquitoes can’t pass on the…
