Insecticide-induced behavioral responses of Anopheles minimus, a malaria vector in Thailand

This study was designed to determine the behavioral responses of 2 test populations of Anopheles minimus females to DDT at 2 g/m², deltamethrin at 0.0625 g/m², and lambdacyhalothrin at 0.0369 g/m² using an improved excito-repellency escape chamber. One test population was colonized in 1993 and referred to as a young colony. The 2nd field test population was collected from Ta-Soa County, Tri-Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province, in western Thailand and referred to as a wild population. Results showed that females of both young and wild test populations rapidly escaped from direct contact with DDT, deltamethrin, and lamb-dacyhalothrin. Lambdacyhalothrin exhibited the strongest irritant effect on female mosquitoes, followed by DDT and deltamethrin. Fewer females escaped from test chambers without direct contact with treated surfaces but the response was significantly different from that of the controls (P < 0.05). The noncontact response is indicative of a noncontact repellent action. Both contact irritancy and noncontact repellency are involved in An. minimus escape responses. Experimental hut studies that include monitoring of house-entering populations of An. minimus are needed for a meaningful assessment of noncontact repellent actions.