Oral susceptibility to ivermectin is over fifty times greater in a wild population of Anopheles albimanus mosquitoes from Belize than the STECLA laboratory reference strain of this mosquito

Background The STECLA strain of Anopheles albimanus has been in continuous colony for many years and is the reference strain on which genomic studies for the species are based. Recently, the STECLA strain was demonstrated to be much less susceptible to ivermectin ingested in a blood meal (4-day LC 50 of 1468 ng/ml) than all other Anopheles species tested to-date (LC 50 values range from 7 to 56 ng/ml). The ability of An. albimanus to survive ingestion of ivermectin at concentrations far beyond that typically found in the blood of ivermectin-treated people or livestock (i.e., 30–70 ng/ml) could invalidate the use of ivermectin as a malaria vector control strategy in areas where An. albimanus is a primary vector. Methods To investigate this, host-seeking An. albimanus were captured in northern Belize and used in membrane feeding bioassays of ivermectin, employing the same methods as described earlier with the STECLA strain. Results Field-collected An. albimanus in Belize were 55 times more susceptible to ingested ivermectin than were the STECLA reference strain. Oral susceptibility to ivermectin in wild An. albimanus from Belize (4-day LC 50 of 26 ng/ml) was equivalent to that of other Anopheles species tested. Conclusions Contrary to initial assessments using a highly inbred strain of mosquito, laboratory studies using a field population indicate that ivermectin treatment of livestock could reduce An. albimanus populations in areas of Central America and the Caribbean where malaria transmission may occur. Toxicity screening of ivermectin and other systemic parasiticides for malaria control should examine wild populations of the vector species being targeted.