Ivermectin
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Ivermectin

Ivermectin is an anti-parasite medication and is effective against most common intestinal worms (except tapeworms), most mites, and some lice. While normally used to treat animals, it is also prescribed to humans to treat infections of Strongyloides stercoralis and onchocerciasis (river blindness). It is sold under brand names Stromectol® in the United States and Mectizan® in Canada. more...

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Ivermectin is chemically related to the insecticide avermectin, the active ingredient in some home-use ant baits. Both ivermectin and avermectin are derived from the bacterium Streptomyces avermitilis and kill by interfering with the target animal's nervous system.

In General Use Pesticide (GUP) formulations, these compounds are classified by the United States' Environmental Protection Agency as toxicity category IV, or very low. This means that although highly poisonous to insects, mammals should not generally be adversely affected by normal use of avermectin pesticide formulations. As an example, one such formulation was determined to have an oral LD50 (semi-lethal dose) of 650 mg/kg in rats (qualifies as toxicity category III—low toxicity) . Extrapolated to an 80 kg (180 lb) human, this semi-lethal dose is 52g (1.9 oz), or an amount of the pesticide equal to about four dominoes, which is considered by the EPA to be a low toxicity amount.

However, pure (as opposed to the diluted GUP formulations) avermectin formulations are both highly toxic to insects and mammals (as well as aquatic life, such as fish). One study reports an oral LD50 of 10 mg/kg in rats (qualifies as toxicity category I—high toxicity) .

Due to a mutation within the gene that codes for the MDR1 pump protein that normally disallows entry of ivermectin into the central nervous system, collies should not be treated with ivermectin or any other avermectin. (See P-glycoprotein)

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Worm Rx does double duty - antiparasitic drug ivermectin also kill mosquitoes
From Science News, 11/17/90 by Rick Weiss

Worm [R.sub.x] does double duty

Ivermectin, a drug widely distributed in Africa as a treatment for parasitic worms, takes an unexpected toll on disease-spreading mosquitoes, laboratory studies indicate. The tests suggest that many mosquitoes become infertile or die after ingesting blood from people who recently have taken the drug.

Ivermectin kills young parasitic worms in animals and people (SN: 10/6/90, p. 215). A single annual dose keeps humans free of new worms for a year. In the new study, Robert B. Tesh and Hilda Guzman of the Yale University School of Medicine allowed three species of tropical mosquitoes to dine on vials of human blood containing ivermectin levels comparable to those in people who have taken the drug within the past several days. Many mosquitoes became paralyzed and then died; more than half the survivors were left infertile.

Colin D. Ginger, a parasitologist with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, notes that most people who take ivermectin have insecticidal concentrations in their blood for only about a week each year. The Yale finding nonetheless represents "an important phenomenon," he says, because ivermectin's effects on mosquito ovaries hint that the drug specifically targets neurohormonal systems. Researchers still don't know how ivermectin works against worms. "If you could crack this [mechanism] in insects," Ginger says, "it would give us an idea of what to look for in worms." That could lead to even better anti-worm drugs, he says, including some that might linger longer in the blood at mosquito-killing levels.

COPYRIGHT 1990 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

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