NEVBD Pesticide Resistance Monitoring Network: Establishing a Centralized Network to Increase Regional Capacity for Pesticide Resistance Detection and Monitoring

Pesticide resistance in arthropod vectors of disease agents is a growing issue globally. Despite the importance of resistance monitoring to inform mosquito control programs, no regional monitoring programs exist in the United States. The Northeastern Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEVBD) is a consortium of researchers and public health practitioners with a primary goal of supporting regional vector control activities. NEVBD initiated a pesticide resistance monitoring program to detect resistant mosquito populations throughout the northeastern United States. A regionwide survey was distributed to vector control agencies to determine needs and refine program development and in response, a specimen submission system was established, allowing agencies to submit Culex pipiens (L.) (Diptera:Culicidae) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) for pesticide resistance testing. NEVBD also established larvicide resistance diagnostics for Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) and methoprene. Additional diagnostics were developed for Cx. pipiens resistance to Lysinibacillus sphaericus. We received 58 survey responses, representing at least one agency from each of the 13 northeastern U.S. states. Results indicated that larvicides were deployed more frequently than adulticides, but rarely paired with resistance monitoring. Over 18,000 mosquitoes were tested from six states. Widespread low-level (1 × LC-99) methoprene resistance was detected in Cx. pipiens, but not in Ae. albopictus. No resistance to Bti or L. sphaericus was detected. Resistance to pyrethroids was detected in many locations for both species. Our results highlight the need for increased pesticide resistance testing in the United States and we provide guidance for building a centralized pesticide resistance testing program.

Augmentation of the atrophic mandible with a vascularized rib graft

A patient with a 29-year history of denture wearing had her mandible augmented with a vascularized rib graft. The rib was contoured to fit the arch of the mandible and vascularized by means of the facial arteries to the intercostal vessels. The nutrient artery was not included in the vascularized bone graft. Cortical cancellous bone chips were packed around the rib to augment the buccal surface of the rib graft. Periosteal perfusion and vascularity of the transferred rib were well documented at 1 week, 1 month, and 6 months postoperatively by radionuclide scintigraphy. It is now 24 months after surgery and the patient began wearing a denture 2 months after the rib transfer. She underwent a split-thickness skin graft vestibuloplasty and floor-of-the-mouth lowering 12 months following the rib transfer with improvement in her denture-wearing capabilities, which has remained constant for 10 months. Vertical resorption of the graft at 3 months was 10 percent, at 6 months 15 percent, and it has stabilized at 25 percent.