title: When a discriminating dose assay is not enough: measuring the intensity of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Guidelines from the World Health Organization for monitoring insecticide resistance in disease vectors recommend exposing insects to a predetermined discriminating dose of insecticide and recording the percentage mortality in the population. This standardized methodology has been widely adopted for malaria vectors and has provided valuable data on the spread and prevalence of resistance. However, understanding the potential impact of this resistance on malaria control requires a more quantitative measure of the strength or intensity of this resistance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bioassays were adapted to quantify the level of resistance to permethrin in laboratory colonies and field populations of Anopheles gambiae sensu lato. WHO susceptibility tube assays were used to produce data on mortality versus exposure time and CDC bottle bioassays were used to generate dose response data sets. A modified version of the CDC bottle bioassay, known as the Resistance Intensity Rapid Diagnostic Test (I-RDT), was also used to measure the knockdown and mortality after exposure to different multipliers of the diagnostic dose. Finally cone bioassays were used to assess mortality after exposure to insecticide treated nets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The time response assays were simple to perform but not suitable for highly resistant populations. After initial problems with stability of insecticide and bottle washing were resolved, the CDC bottle bioassay provided a reproducible, quantitative measure of resistance but there were challenges performing this under field conditions. The I-RDT was simple to perform and interpret although the end point selected (immediate knockdown versus 24 h mortality) could dramatically affect the interpretation of the data. The utility of the cone bioassays was dependent on net type and thus appropriate controls are needed to interpret the operational significance of these data sets.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Incorporating quantitative measures of resistance strength, and utilizing bioassays with field doses of insecticides, will help interpret the possible impact of resistance on vector control activities. Each method tested had different benefits and challenges and agreement on a common methodology would be beneficial so that data are generated in a standardized format. This type of quantitative data are an important prerequisite to linking resistance strength to epidemiological outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. J.E.Bagi@pgr.reading.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bagi
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. N.Grisales@liverpool.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grisales
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. rlcorkill@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corkill
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. John.Morgan@lstmed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Centre National de Recherche et de la Formation sur Paludisme, Ouagadougou, 01BP2208, Burkina Faso. n.fale.cnlp@fasonet.bf.
authors.forename: Sagnon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: N'Falé
authors.affiliation: Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA. wgb1@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Brogdon
authors.affiliation: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. Hilary.Ranson@lstmed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ranson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000187:drug effects*; D001681:Biological Assay; D002050:Burkina Faso; D007560:Cote d'Ivoire; D005260:Female; D007305:Insecticide Resistance; D007306:Insecticides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007306:Insecticides