Anthelmintic treatment alters the parasite community in a wild mouse host

Amy B Pedersen, Janis Antonovics, Amy B Pedersen, Janis Antonovics

Abstract

Individuals are often co-infected with several parasite species, yet the consequences of drug treatment on the dynamics of parasite communities in wild populations have rarely been measured. Here, we experimentally reduced nematode infection in a wild mouse population and measured the effects on other non-target parasites. A single oral dose of the anthelmintic, ivermectin, significantly reduced nematode infection, but resulted in a reciprocal increase in other gastrointestinal parasites, specifically coccidial protozoans and cestodes. These results highlight the possibility that drug therapy may have unintended consequences for non-target parasites and that host-parasite dynamics cannot always be fully understood in the framework of single host-parasite interactions.

Keywords: community ecology; helminths; within-host interactions.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The effect of ivermectin on the probability of infection of drug-target parasites: (a) nematodes and (b) ectoparasites; and non-target parasites: (c) coccidial protozoans and (d) cestodes of ivermectin-treated (dashed line; open circles) and control (water; solid line; filled circles) mice from the GLM models (table 1). Week 0 represents pre-treatment infection probability, and week 2 and 4 represent recaptured individuals after treatment. Bars represent s.e.

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Source: PubMed

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