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Data set and code for "Treatment of cattle with ivermectin negatively impacts dung degradation and larval abundance in a tropical savanna setting"

dataset
posted on 2025-05-27, 19:18 authored by Miriam Ruhinda, Kang Xia, Cassidy RistCassidy Rist, Gerald Enos Shija, Issa N. Lyimo, Carlyle Brewster, Felician Meza, N. Regina Rabinovich, Carlos Chaccour, Roger SchuerchRoger Schuerch

When ingested as part of a blood meal, the antiparasitic drug ivermectin kills mosquitoes, making it a candidate for mass drug administration (MDA) in humans and livestock to reduce malaria transmission. When administered to livestock, most ivermectin is excreted unmetabolized in the dung within 5 days post administration. Presence of ivermectin, has been shown to adversely affect dung colonizers and dung degradation in temperate settings; however, those findings may not apply to, tropical environment, where ivermectin MDA against malaria would occur. Here we report results of a randomized field experiment conducted with dung from ivermectin-treated and control cattle to determine the effect of ivermectin on dung degradation in tropical Tanzania. For intact pats, we measured termite colonization, larval numbers and pat wet and dry weights. Pat organic matter was interpolated from a subsample of the pat (10 g wet weight). Additionally, we counted larvae growing in the treated and untreated pats in a semi-field setting. We found that termites colonized ivermectin pats more readily than controls. Despite this, wet weight decreased significantly slower in the ivermectin-treated pats in the first two weeks. As water was lost, sub-sample dry weight increased, and organic matter decreased similarly over time for the treatment and control. Interpolated for whole pats, total organic matter was higher, and larval counts were lower in the ivermectin-treated pats after the first month. Our results demonstrate an effect of ivermectin and its metabolites on dung degradation and fauna in a tropical savanna setting. Because slow dung degradation and low insect abundance negatively impact pastureland, these non-target, environmental effects must be further investigated within the context of real-world implementation of ivermectin MDA in cattle and weighed against the potential benefits for malaria control.

Funding

Unitaid, grant number 2018-30-ISG

History

Publisher

University Libraries, Virginia Tech

Location

Tanzania

Corresponding Author Name

Roger Schürch

Corresponding Author E-mail Address

rschurch@vt.edu

Files/Folders in Dataset and Description

Ruhinda_Bohemia_Data_Code ├── 04_data ## DATA FOLDER │   ├── Cattle data.csv ## baseline information on cattle │   ├── dung_degradation.csv ## dung degradation data set - main field experiment data │   ├── Larvae count.csv ## larval counts data set │   └── study_summaries.csv ## literature summaries - how were studies performed? ├── 05_code ## CODE FOLDER │   ├── 000_main.R ## main R file, sources all other data prep and analysis files │   ├── 001_data_prep.R ## data preparation │   ├── 002_data_validation.R ## data validation operations │   ├── 003_data_analysis_ch2.R ## data analysis, originally for a thesis chapter, now part of the journal article │   └── 004_data_analysis_ch3.R ## data analysis, originally for a thesis chapter, now part of the journal article

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