Baseline Susceptibility Of Anopheles Gambiae To Clothianidin In Northern Ghana

Abstract

Background: Clothianidin, an insecticide with a novel mode of action, has been deployed in the annual indoor residual spraying programme in northern Ghana since March 2021. To inform pragmatic management strategies and guide future studies, baseline data on local Anopheles gambiae sensu lato (s.l.) susceptibility to clothianidin insecticides were collected in Kpalsogu, a village in the northern region of Ghana. Methods The phenotypic susceptibility of An. gambiae mosquitoes to clothianidin was assessed using the World Health Organization Organization (WHO) insecticide resistance monitoring bioassay. The WHO cone bioassays were conducted on mud and cement walls sprayed with Sumishield 50 wettable granules (WG) (with clothianidin as an active ingredient). Daily Mortalities were recorded for up to 7 days to observe for delayed mortalities. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique nique was used to differentiate the sibling species of the An. gambiae complex and also for the detection of knock down resistance genes (kdr) and the insensitive acetylcholinesterase mutation (ace-1). Results The WHO susceptibility bioassay revealed a delayed killing effect of clothianidin. Mosquitoes exposed to the cone bioassays for 5 minutes and died 120 hours after exposure. Slightly higher mortalities were observed in mosquitoes. toes exposed to clothianidin-treated cement wall surfaces than mosquitoes exposed to mud wall surfaces. The kdr target-site mutation L1014F occurred at very high frequencies (0.89–0.94) across all vector species identified, whereas The ace-1 mutation occurred at moderate levels (0.32–0.44). Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto was the most abundant species observed at 63%, whereas Anopheles arabiensis was the least observed at 9%. Conclusions Anopheles gambiae s.l. mosquitoes in northern Ghana were susceptible to clothianidin. They harboured kdr mutations at high frequencies. The ace-1 mutation occurred in moderation. The results of this study confirm that clothianidin is an effective active ingredient and should be utilized in malaria vector control interventions