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Bulletin of the World Health Organization logoLink to Bulletin of the World Health Organization
. 1972;46(6):807–812.

Experimental introduction of a microsporidian into a wild population of Culex pipiens fatigans Wied

D G Reynolds
PMCID: PMC2480882  PMID: 4538542

Abstract

Chemical control of C. p. fatigans frequently fails because the mosquito rapidly develops resistance to insecticides. A possible alternative or complementary method is biological control, including the introduction of pathogens. The microsporidian Plistophora culicis was known to infect readily and have an adverse effect on C. p. fatigans populations in the laboratory, so an attempt was made to introduce and establish this pathogen in a wild population of the mosquito on the Pacific island of Nauru. Two years after introduction the pathogen was still present in the wild population. However, the infection rate was similar to that found in naturally occurring infections in other mosquitos and is almost certainly not high enough to affect a natural population of C. p. fatigans adversely.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Muspratt J. Technique for infecting larvae of the Culex pipiens complex with a mermithid nematode and for culturing the latter in the laboratory. Bull World Health Organ. 1965;33(1):140–144. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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