Acaricidal drug resistance in poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) and approaches to its management

Poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae), the haematophagous pest of egg laying hens, is an important problem in poultry production in many parts of the world. Control has typically relied on synthetic acaricides in spite of advancements in immunological, biotechnological and genetic approaches. However, the repeated long term use of these compounds has resulted in the development of drug resistant populations of poultry mites, therefore, the availability of effective acaricides is diminishing rapidly. Due to this, there is need for the continuous availability of new chemical acaricides to replace the older types, however the development and registration of new acaricides is a long expensive process, therefore, preserving and maintaining the effectiveness of available acaricides is essential. This review has two parts; the first is to provide the basic understanding of acaricide resistance in D. gallinae while the second part provides more detailed knowledge about the management of resistance to preserve the efficacy of available acaricides.