Malaria-carrying mosquitoes can quickly develop resistance to insecticide-treated bed nets, researchers in Senegal have found. Mass distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets has become part of malaria control programs in Africa, with studies in Kenya, Senegal and Gambia suggesting the policy helps reduce deaths and illnesses from malaria. Now researchers studying villagers in central Senegal say insecticide resistance challenges the approach. They compared malaria illnesses and mosquito populations 1½ years before the bed nets were introduced and 2½ years after.
