Department of Parasitology

King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Developing an excellent service of international standards to provide patients with accurate diagnoses and timely services.

The Department of Parasitology, formerly known as “Parasitology”, was initially a unit of the Department of Pathology. Parasitology is the study of diseases caused by parasites in other living organisms, such as humans, and the study of relationships between hosts and parasites. Parasitology is, therefore, considered an essential subject in the study of medicine. The National Education Council decided to isolate the Department of Parasitology  from the Department of Pathology on January 10th 1967, with Professor Dr. Arnon Pratatsunthornsarn appointed as the first Head of Department.

Vision

The Parasitology Laboratory is committed to developing an excellent service of international standards to provide patients with accurate diagnoses and timely services. Our priority is to ensure that patients are confident and satisfied with the quality of our services. 

Mission

The mission of the Department of parasitology is to provide standard, trustworthy, and quality services meeting international standards. 


The Department of Parasitology is divided into four sections as follows; 

  1. Patient services.
  2. Academic services.
  3. Education and research.
  4. Administration. 

Services

For the patient services, The Parasitology Department has broken down the disease examinations service into two subdivisions as follows;

  1. Parasitic disease examination services at 14th Floor, Bhor Por Ror Building, .
  2. Parasitic Lab examination services

The Parasitology laboratory can be divided into 

  • Parasitology Laboratory, 4th Floor, Bhor Por Ror Building.
    Outpatient services and general health checkups for patients going abroad.
  • Parasitology Laboratory, 3rd Floor, Bhumisirimangalanusorn Building.
    Providing inpatient services and health examinations. 
  • Parasitology Laboratory, 18th Floor, H.M. King Ananda Mahidol Building.
    Providing examination services that require special techniques, including cultures, dyeing, immunological testing and molecular biology examinations.

The Parasitology Laboratory

The Parasitology Laboratory provides testing services that can be split into six main categories with a total of 27 tests as follows;

1. Diagnosis by parasitological methods including;

  1. Routine stool examination.
  2. Blood filariasis testing via Giemsa stain or the DEC provocative test.
  3. Screening malaria in the blood via Giemsa stain technique.
  4. Pinworm examination via the Scotch tape technique.
  5. Parasite identification e.g. Parasitic worms and bugs.

2. Immunological examination

2.1 Antigen Examinations including;

  1. Filaria specific antigen.
  2. E. histolytica antigen from pus or stools.
  3. Giardia lamblia antigen.
  4. ICT for malaria.

2.2 Antibody Examinations including;

  1. IHA for E. histolytica.
  2. Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibody.
  3. Taenia solium IgG antibody.
  4. IFA for Pneumocystis jirovecii.

3. Protozoa examinations and with special staining/dyeing

  1. Stain for Pneumocystis jiroveci.
  2. Stain for Microsporidia.
  3. Stain for Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora and Isospora.

4. Culture of Helminths and Protozoa

  1. Agar plate culture for Strongyloides & hookworm.
  2. Culture for E. histolytica/E. dispar, T. vaginalis.
  3. Culture for Trichomonas vaginalis.
  4. Culture for free-living amoebae.

5. Molecular biology diagnostics (PCR)

  1. PCR for malaria.
  2. PCR for Pneumocystis jirovecii.

6. Other examinations including;

  1. Stool examination for hemoglobin (ICT for occult blood).
  2. Hemoglobin levels in the stool samples (Fecal free hemoglobin level).
  3. Fat in stool examination (Stain for fat by Sudan stain).

Services of the Parasitology Department have received various qualifications and certifications as follows;

  • Certified Laboratory in clinical microscopy from the Department of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Public Health From January 31st, 2010 to the present.
  • Certified laboratory capabilities, according to ISO 15189: 2012 and ISO 15190: 2003 from December 19th, 2013, to the present.
  • Certified by the institution for quality assurance. (Public Organization) from the December 12th, 2017 – December 11th, 2020.
  • Certified by the Royal College of Pathologists of Thailand from  February 15th, 2019 – February 14th, 2022.

Operating days/hours and locations.

Parasitology Clinic,
Bhor Por Ror Building, 14th Floor

Monday – Friday from 08.00 – 12.00 hrs.

Parasitology Laboratory,
Bhor Por Ror Building, 4th Floor

Monday – Friday from 08.00 – 16.00 hrs.

Parasitology Laboratory,
Bhumisirimangalanusorn Building, 3rd Floor

Monday – Friday from 08.00 – 16.00 hrs.

Parasitology Laboratory,
H.M. King Ananda Mahidol Building, 18th Floor

Monday – Friday from 08.00 – 12.00 and 13.00 – 16.00 hrs.

Parasitology Laboratory,
Bhumisirimangalanusorn Building, 3rd Floor

Monday – Friday from 16.00 – 24.00 hrs. Saturday – Sunday and on public/national holidays from 08.00 – 24.00 hrs. After midnight, please use our on-call service.

Contact

Name

Parasitology Laboratory
4th Floor, Bhor Por Ror building.
Tel. 02 256 5386

Parasitology Laboratory
3rd Floor, Bhumisirimangalanusorn Building.
Tel.02 256 4000 Ext 80343, 80344

Tel

02 256 4387 Ext. 0 (Admin)