Exposure of gut bacterial isolates to the anthelminthic drugs, ivermectin and moxidectin, leads to antibiotic-like phenotypes of growth inhibition and adaptation.

Due to their broad-spectrum activities, ivermectin and moxidectin are widely used anthelminthics in veterinary and human medicine. However, ivermectin has recently been shown to perturbate bacterial growth. Given the macrolide-like structure of both ivermectin and moxidectin, there is a need to characterize the antibiotic spectrum of these anthelminthics and their potential implications in the development of cross-resistance to macrolides and other families of antibiotics.