First Evidence of High Knockdown Resistance Frequency in Anopheles arabiensis (Diptera: Culicidae) from Ethiopia

The status of knockdown resistance (kdr) mutation was investigated in the major malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis Patton (Diptera: Culicidae) from Ethiopia. Among 240 mosquito samples from 15 villages of southwestern Ethiopia that were screened by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction for kdr mutations, the West African kdr mutation (L1014F) was detected in almost all specimens (98.5%), whereas the East African kdr mutation (L1014S) was absent. Moreover, the mortality of An. gambiae s.l. to diagnostic dosages of 4% DDT, 0.75% permethrin, and 0.05% deltamethrin from bioassay results was 1.0%, 18.1%, and 82.2%, respectively. We report here the highest kdr allele frequency ever observed in An. arabiensis and its implications in malaria vector control in Ethiopia are discussed.