Anthelmintic treatment alters the parasite community in a wild mouse host

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 beenmeasured.Here,we experimentally reduced nematode infectionin awild mouse population andmeasured the effects on other nontarget 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.