WHILE MALATHION has proved to be an effective agent against mosquitoes during fogging, an effort is on to determine if they are building up resistance to the insecticide.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Joy St John, in responding to concerns from the public and environmental scientists that fogging was not effective in killing mosquitoes, issued a statement yesterday from Acting Chief Environmental Health Officer Desmond King.
“The Ministry of Health recognises insects can develop resistance to insecticides, hence the Vector Control Department is currently engaged in an exercise with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), to determine resistance within the Barbadian mosquito population,” the statement said.
King said that five years ago the Vector Control Department conducted experiments on live Aedes aegypti mosquitoes using the chemical and it proved that Malathion as an adulticide was still highly lethal and effective against mosquitoes. (LK)
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