Short summaries of new papers on insects, chemicals and vector-borne disease.
A study published in Tropical Medicine and Health on 20 September 2026 (featured by MalariaWorld on 8 October 2026) assessed pyrethroid resistance in Anopheles coluzzii collected in southern Benin, from two agricultural areas (Sèmè-Kpodji, Abomey-Calavi) and one non-agricultural urban area (Yenawa).
A review published in the Journal of Vector Borne Diseases on 21 August 2026 (featured by MalariaWorld on 8 October 2026) summarises the current situation and geographical patterns of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors and the consequences for malaria control.
A study published online in Communications Medicine on 8 October 2026 by authors from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, the US National Library of Medicine (NIH), New York University and the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra estimates global habitability for Aedes mosquitoes at high spatial resolution in five-year steps from 1970 to 2024.
On 1 October 2026 the journal Trials published a study protocol by the Environmental Health Institute of Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) with the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University: a randomised controlled trial in high-rise public housing estates to test whether releasing male Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti, on top of routine vector control, can curb the growth of dengue clusters.
A study published in Parasites & Vectors on 27 September 2026 by the University of the West Indies, Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness and the US CDC shows that Aedes aegypti from both urban (Kingston and St Andrew) and rural (Lances Bay, Hanover) Jamaica resist several insecticide classes: permethrin, deltamethrin and malathion.
A study published in Parasites & Vectors on 10 September 2026 (Naval Medical University, Shanghai, and the Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Diseases, with the participation of Lao PDR’s National Malaria Centre) identified 15 Anopheles species at four border sites between Laos, Cambodia and Thailand; in Anopheles peditaeniatus, the ace-1 G119S mutation was found at high frequency.
The socio-economic report for the third quarter and first nine months of 2026, released by the National Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance) on the morning of 3 October 2026 and posted on the Government Portal on 5 October 2026, says that since the start of the year more than 94,200 people in Vietnam have had dengue fever, 14 of whom died.
VTV.vn reported on 5 October 2026, citing the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC Hanoi), that from 25 September to 2 October the city recorded 350 dengue cases in 81 wards and communes, 40 fewer than the previous week. Since the start of 2026 Hanoi has recorded 3,946 cases in 119 wards and communes, with no deaths.
The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) reported on 3 October 2026 that in week 39 (21–27 September 2026) the city recorded 1,491 dengue cases, stable (1.7%) compared with the average of the previous four weeks. The cumulative total from the start of 2026 to week 39 is 35,714 cases.
A paper of 5 October 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases evaluated ground ultra-low volume (ULV) spraying with deltamethrin plus pyrethrum extract in Hungary, using a before–after–control–impact (BACI) design: mosquito numbers at treated sites fell by about 47% on average, while non-target flying insects, including pollinators, fell by more than 40%.
A paper of 25 September 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases interviewed in depth 15 people directly involved in the pilot of the E-Dengue early warning system (September–December 2025) in An Giang and Tay Ninh: a lack of supportive policy, limited understanding of early warning among stakeholders and operational difficulties kept alerts from turning into proactive larval control.
A paper of 3 September 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases surveyed knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) among 346 household representatives in eight communities of Zacapa and Chiquimula, Guatemala: about 90% knew mosquitoes spread dengue, yet 37% of households did nothing to remove breeding sites. Most were open to copepods (tiny crustaceans that eat mosquito larvae) if given information, technical support and assurance on water safety.
A paper of 3 September 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases: a Montpellier team sampled 2,533 wild birds of 69 species in the Camargue–Montpellier area over 2024–2025. Usutu virus RNA was found in 12.0% of birds and West Nile virus RNA in 4.3%; circulation was markedly higher in 2024 than in 2025.
A paper of 1 October 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases surveyed two low-income communities in Salvador, Brazil (March–December 2023): ovitraps at 174 households and an environmental survey at 119. Ae. aegypti egg counts were strongly linked to trap location, garbage in front of the house, living within 10 m of an open sewer and open plastic containers around the home.
A paper of 24 September 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases: a University of Antioquia team selected a resistant Colombian Ae. aegypti strain with permethrin (type I pyrethroid) and lambda-cyhalothrin (type II) at low (LC25) and high (LC75) concentrations, then measured kdr mutations, enzyme activity and RNA sequencing.
A paper of 20 April 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases reports a molecular survey of Ae. aegypti in Hargeisa, Berbera and Burao (Somaliland) after dengue upsurges in 2022–2024. Voltage-gated sodium-channel mutations S989P, V1016G and F1534C were found; WHO bioassays in Hargeisa and Burao showed resistance to the pyrethroids tested.
Published on 17 October 2025: a scoping review of 877 full-text papers on Aedes vector surveillance, control and insecticide resistance in Africa (1980–2023). Only Senegal and La Réunion had published sustained surveillance systems; RCT/epidemiological evidence on control effectiveness remains thin; many resistance tests used Anopheles doses and may underestimate Aedes resistance.
A paper of 27 May 2026 tested Ae. aegypti from Brazil, Paraguay and Peru with wMelM or wAlbB against DENV-1 or DENV-2. wMelM blocked virus more strongly than wAlbB in every population; blocking was strongest in the Brazil line and weakest in Peru. wAlbB gave higher modelled population fitness in the laboratory.
A paper of 4 May 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases describes a local Ae. aegypti line carrying Wolbachia wAlbB (wAlbB-Tw-Kao) from Kaohsiung Ae. albopictus. The line showed 100% maternal transmission, complete cytoplasmic incompatibility, lower DENV-2 and Zika titres, and up to about 90% lower egg hatch in cage releases of males.
A paper of 10 August 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases surveyed Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti in five comunas of Medellín, Colombia, after wMel releases from 2017 to 2022. Estimated infection frequencies ran from about 60% to near fixation, depending on the sampling and the test.
A systematic review and meta-analysis published on 15 June 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases pooled nine studies (2015–2025) of Ae. aegypti in Nigeria. Pooled mortality was low for pyrethroids and DDT, variable for carbamates, and higher for organophosphates.
A paper of 8 September 2026 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases surveyed mitochondrial DNA and insecticide response of Aedes aegypti in Kenya. Coastal populations were clearly resistant to permethrin and still susceptible to bendiocarb, deltamethrin and fenitrothion.
On 11 June 2026 WHO updated insecticide-resistance methods: discriminating concentrations for two indoor residual-spray active ingredients, broflanilide and isocycloseram, and how to read susceptibility to chlorfenapyr.
A VectorIS summary citing CDC says leptospirosis is caused by Leptospira bacteria in the urine of infected animals and can rise after storms or floods. Incubation is often 2–30 days. Prevention includes avoiding swimming or wading in suspect water, covering wounds, wearing waterproof boots, and controlling rodents.
VectorIS summarises WHO’s insecticide-resistance pages: widespread resistance threatens malaria mosquito control. The programme includes GPIRM, a national planning framework, susceptibility-test SOPs, the World malaria report, a DHIS2 tool, a database from 1978, and the Malaria Threats Map.
VectorIS, citing CDC, says Dirofilaria immitis infection in dogs is heartworm disease, transmitted by mosquitoes (Aedes, Anopheles, Mansonia). In dogs it can block the pulmonary artery and cause cough and fatigue on exercise. Prevention is fewer mosquito bites and asking a veterinarian about a prevention schedule. The article names no brand.
VectorIS, citing CDC, says the bottle bioassay coats a bottle with a diagnostic dose, introduces mosquitoes, and watches them for two hours. Resistance is read from mortality at the diagnostic time: 98–100% susceptible, 90–97% resistance developing, under 90% resistant.
A qualitative study in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases interviewed stakeholders in Vietnam about why proactive removal of mosquito breeding sites, triggered by early warning, is still difficult.
A paper in Cell Research reports that malnutrition changes skin chemistry and the skin microbiome, so mosquitoes are more strongly attracted and the risk of dengue-virus transmission rises.
A national serosurvey in Timor-Leste used spatial models to estimate the force of infection of dengue virus and to identify hotspots.
A study by Nguyen Van Hiep and colleagues in the Journal of Tropical Science and Engineering assessed permethrin susceptibility and pyrethroid-resistance mutations in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in Ho Chi Minh City.
A paper in Ecotoxicology (volume 35, article 123) assessed insecticide resistance in the house fly (Musca domestica) with feeding tests and a screen for resistance mutations.
A University of Kentucky study found that essential-oil products kill cockroaches well when sprayed directly but work poorly as a residual spray.
Mortality of Aedes aegypti exposed to deltamethrin fell from 95% to 46%. The study suggests reconsidering a strategy that relies on chemicals, and supporting Wolbachia.
Analysis of 971 bed bugs from 109 populations indicates that US lineages were already present and evolved separately, with different resistance mutations.
A study in Urban Ecosystems by Auburn University reconstructs how the Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus) spread from the port of Mobile deeper into Alabama over four decades.
A paper in Parasites & Vectors is the first to record both phenotypic resistance and kdr mutations in Aedes aegypti in mainland Tanzania, data for choosing chemicals in dengue control.
The transporter PfApiAT2 lets Plasmodium falciparum take up proline from the mosquito. Without it, oocysts stop developing and do not produce sporozoites.
A paper in the Journal of Pest Science uses a pose-tracking model to study how Coptotermes formosanus alates move after shedding their wings, then simulates how often they meet to found a new colony.
A BMC Biology study of Aedes aegypti from Havana, Cuba, found that vertical transmission can produce females with infectious virus in saliva without a blood meal from a sick person.
A survey at dengue hotspots in Malaysia found widespread pyrethroid resistance and the start of resistance to organophosphates.
A Nature paper reports that flaviviruses spread inside the mosquito mainly in extracellular vesicles carrying nucleocapsid, and that a match between the virus capsid and the mosquito VCP protein decides which mosquito species can transmit.
