Vector control is still the principal method to control dengue and chemical insecticides, especially the
pyrethroids such as permethrin are the forerunners of mosquito control agent. Intensive and extensive use
of pyrethroids often result in resistance, thereby hampering control efforts. The present study was
conducted to evaluate the susceptible status of Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of dengue against
permethrin. A nationwide mosquito sampling via ovitrapping was conducted in 12 dengue hotspots across 5
states in Peninsular Malaysia. Field collected Aedes eggs were hatched and reared until L3 larval and further
identified it species. Adult F0 Aedes aegypti were reared until F1 progeny and the female were used in
adult assay, performed according to World Health Organization (WHO) protocol as to determine the
resistance level. The laboratory strain maintained for more than 1000 generations that were susceptible to
permethrin served as the control strain. Evaluation of resistance ratio was assessed by comparing the
knockdown rate with laboratory susceptible strain. In this present study, 70% ofAe. aegypti population from
dengue hotspots was highly resistance to permethrin. The study clearly demonstrated that widespread of
permethrin resistant Ae. aegypti in Malaysian mosquito’s population, indicating the need of implementing
an efficient pyrethroid resistance management.
A 73-year-old Chinese man was admitted to the Accident and Emergency Premorbid Ward of a local hospital in Malaysia. The patient complained of shortness of breath with cough and was in a semi-conscious state. He was later admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital. Six days after admission 5-6 maggots were recoverd from the nasal cavity. The maggots were identified as the third-instar larvae of Lucilia cuprina Wiedmann (Diptera: Calliphoridae) based on the morphological characteristics. This patient was classified as having nosocomial myiasis. The presence of the third instar larvae indicated that the infestation was not more than three to four days. An adult sarcophagid identified as Parasarcophaga ruficornis (Fabricius) caught in the ICU where the patient was warded provided further evidence of the potential for the nosocomial infestation.
Diseases such as malaria, dengue, Zika and chikungunya remain endemic in many countries. Setting and deploying traps to capture the host/vector species are fundamental to understand their density and distributions. Human effort to manage the trap data accurately and timely is an exhaustive endeavour when the study area expands and period prolongs. One stop mobile app to manage and monitor the process of targeted species trapping, from field to laboratory level is still scarce. Toward this end, we developed a new mobile app named "PesTrapp" to acquire the vector density index based on the mobile updates of ovitraps and species information in field and laboratory. This study aimed to highlight the mobile app's development and design, elucidate the practical user experiences of using the app and evaluate the preliminary user assessment of the mobile app. The mobile app was developed using mobile framework and database. User evaluation of the mobile app was based on the adjusted Mobile App Rating Scale and Standardized User Experience Percentile Rank Questionnaire. The process flows of system design and detailed screen layouts were described. The user experiences with and without the app in a project to study Aedes surveillance in six study sites in Selangor, Malaysia were elucidated. The overall mean user evaluation score of the mobile app was 4.0 out of 5 (SD=0.6), reflects its acceptability of the users. The PesTrapp, a one-stop solution, is anticipated to improve the entomological surveillance work processes. This new mobile app can contribute as a tool in the vector control countermeasure strategies.