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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  2457 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Anti-Parasite Drug Ivermectin Could Be New Weapon In War Against Malaria-Carrying Mosquitoes : Goats and Soda : NPR

Two interesting side facts about Ivermectin. It's not just used to treat parasites in humans, but also other animals. Some breeds of working dogs have a gene mutation that make them highly vulnerable to the drug which can cause them brain damage, so veterinarians have to prescribe other anti-parasite drugs for those breeds. Additionally, the feces of animals who are given Ivermectin often take longer to break down because the drug is found in their droppings, thereby making them inhospitable to certain bugs.





Dala  ·  2456 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Interesting. I knew about the dog breed/brain damage thing, because of our mutt, but I did not know about the bugs avoiding ivermectin-containing feces. It makes sense though, if they would avoid an animal that contained the compound they would also avoid it's waste which would contain the same compounds.

user-inactivated  ·  2456 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think they tend to avoid the feces because the drug just makes them downright inhospitable. Like, no human would ever think about living on Venus for example.