Ivermectin stops the parasite from eating, reproducing, moving, and causing harm to the body by inhibiting ion channels in the parasite's nervous system.

• In particular, it works on glutamate-gated chloride channel receptors (purple in the diagram).

• When a neurotransmitter called glutamate (pink in the diagram) binds to these channels, they allow chloride ions (orange in the diagram) to move in and out of nerve cells.

• These channels are only present in some animals - like insects, crustaeceans, and some worms. This means that usually, ivermectin only effects the parasite and not the host.

• When ivermectin (green in the diagram) binds to this receptor, lots of chloride ions can rush into the nerve cell. This stops the nerve cell from functioning properly, meaning it cannot send normal nerve impulses to muscles or ducts.

• As the parasite can no longer control its muscles, it cannot feed, move, or secrete eggs or harmful chemicals. As such, the parasite will die from paralysis or starvation.

The above information was obtained from different evidence-based scientific papers, summarised, and converted into a diagram [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].