Susceptibility of Sylvatic Triatoma infestans from Andeans Valleys of Bolivia to Deltamethrin and Fipronil

We describe the susceptibility to deltamethrin and fipronil of four sylvatic Triatoma infestans populations from the Andean valleys of Bolivia. Fifty percent lethal doses were determined from topical application of insecticide on first instars, and mortality was assessed after 24 h for deltamethrin and 48 h for fipronil. In comparison with a reference strain from Argentina, the Bolivian populations showed deltamethrin 50 percent lethal dose ratios ranging from 1.9 to 17.4. In the case of fipronil, an insecticide never used for control of T. infestans, the Bolivian populations showed even higher variation in toxic response, with relative susceptibilities ranging from 0.5 to 139.2. However, although the sylvatic T. infestans toxicological profiles differ from each other and from those of the domiciliary population studied in this work, there were no significant differences in the activities of P450 mono-oxygenases and pyrethroid esterases between the reference strain and the studied populations.