Efficacy of ivermectin for control of zoophilic malaria vectors in pakistan

A voluminous body of research has reported that the therapeutic concentration of ivermectin in the blood/tissue of domestic animals can be lethal to zoophilic anopheles mosquito species,when they ingest blood meal from treated animals. in pakistan ivermectin is used for the treatment of endo and ecto-parasites in veterinary practices. currently,no study is available in pakistan showing the effect of ivermectin on the survivorship of malaria vector mosquitoes. these studies were undertaken to evaluate the insecticidal effect of ivermectin,on the survivorship of zoophilic malaria vectors anopheles culicifacies and a. stephensi under field conditions of (district okara) punjab,pakistan. anopheles mosquitoes were sampled on cattle given ivermectin treatment. insecticidal effect of ivermectin on the survivorship of a. culicifacies and a. stephensi was monitored for 12 days post blood feeding. in conclusion,ivermectin in a dose appropriate for cattle use led to a significant reduction in both a. culicifacies and a. stephensi survival when they fed on treated cattle,compared with controls. a. stephensi was found more susceptible than a. culicifacies to ivermectin after feeding on treated cattle and inseticidal effect was observed for 28 day post ivermectin treatment. © 2013 zoological society of pakistan.