An email interview with Dr. Abhijit Chaudhury

Kindly share your journey and experience of working in the field of Medical Parasitology?I started my professional career after getting my MD in 1994 without any definite direction to specialize in any particular facet of microbiology. During my residency years, I had participated in two research projects apart from my thesis work. These were published in the Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology in 1995, and the work on Cryptosporidiosis was published in 1999 in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. During that time, myself and Prof. Gopal Nath at IMS, BHU, read an article on Cyclospora, and we decided to explore its presence in patients. For this, we obtained stained slides from Prof. YR Ortega at the Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Arizona. However, screening of large number of stool samples did not yield any positive results at that time. Perhaps, these initial works foreshadowed the shape of things to come. Although I did not contribute much in parasitology in the years to come, I again came in close contact with the subject in 2010 making a complete circle, and ever since then, I am closely associated with parasitology. During the early years of 2000, I started toxoplasma screening tests in pregnancy as part of the TORCH panel at our institution and later on did some preliminary work on the association of toxoplasmosis in neuropsychiatric disorders in collaboration with Psychiatry department, but the results were inconclusive. I first attended TROPACON, the national conference of IATP held at Nagpur in 2010 and since then have been actively associated with the activities of IATP. Under the able guidance of Prof. Subhash Chandra Parija, the President of IATP, I have been mainly involved in the organizational and academic works of IATP. I held the post of Chief Managing Editor of the IATP journal Tropical Parasitology from 2018 to 2022 and was able to regularize the timely publication of the journal. The COVID-19 years of 2020 and 2021 were particularly daunting for the journal since during that time, our subscription had plummeted, and it required a herculean task through collective efforts, spearheaded by Prof. SC Parija, to bring it into the tracks again within 1 year. From this year (2025), the IATP will be starting parasitology workshops every month at various centers spread over India and I have been part of the committee to formulate the guidelines and operative procedures for the same. Being a member of the panel to formulate the “Guwahati Declaration of 2024 on Endemic Haemoptysis,” I am also a signatory for the Declaration.What are your research interests?As mentioned earlier, it was not possible for me to focus on any definite area of parasitology, and for that matter, any other specific area of microbiology. This was partly due to the fact that I joined as a junior faculty in a comparatively new institute where microbiology services were rudimentary and there happened to be only one other faculty member. Hence, the initial few years were spent on improving the diagnostic services and the infrastructure of the department. By the time I had progressed to the midlevel of my career, additional administrative responsibilities started taking part of my time. During the years, I was like the proverbial person who was gathering few pebbles on the seashore. I did some research work almost all by myself on biofilm infections, legionella, scrub typhus, and later on in tuberculosis with quality publications on these topics.How do you visualize the evolution of medical parasitology and parasitic diseases both in India and globally in the near future?Diagnostic medical parasitology has made tremendous progress worldwide from the days when gross morphology and microscopy were the only tools for identification. Serological tests for antigen or antibody detection and nucleic acid amplification platforms are being increasingly used for diagnosis and genus/species detection. The sphere has much broadened in the last 3–4 decades with molecular epidemiological aspects of the parasites being explored and attempts being made to determine drug resistance by culture techniques or detection of resistance genes. With the advent of the One Health concept, it is to be expected that a better understanding of the interplay of the parasites with respect to human–animal–environment will be elucidated with novel methods to control the parasites as public health problems.Although India is a hotbed of parasites, the exact national prevalence of many of these parasites remains unknown. Fragmented studies with inadequate number of samples from isolated areas of the country have failed to reveal the true extent of parasitic burden in India. Most of these studies have been conducted in healthcare facilities, with very few field studies. India is a country with >750 medical colleges and almost an equal number of district hospitals with laboratory facilities. A great majority of these healthcare institutions have minimal parasitology diagnostic services in the form of screening for malaria parasites and stool iodine/saline mount microscopy. This scenario is expected to change for the better in near future with heightened awareness and importance of parasites in the Indian context. Another game changer may be the acquisition of polymerase chain reaction setup in all medical colleges in India, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. This setup can be utilized not only for virology but can be extended to parasitology in a gainful manner. Primers for Toxoplasma, Entamoeba histolytica, Cryptosporidium spp. and for certain helminths like T. solium, Echinococcus spp., lung fluke, etc., can be designed and ordered and can be kept for extended periods so that they can be used as and when required. There is definite scope for improvement of parasitology diagnostic services if there is a will to do so among the microbiologists.In your viewpoint, what are the opportunities and challenges in this field of medical parasitology?Parasitology remains a neglected field in our country which brings up multiple opportunities. Improvement of parasitology diagnostics can be the first step toward this. The addition of simple modified acid-fast stain for all stool samples can help in the diagnosis of the various coccidian parasites. Starting of Toxoplasma serology for all pregnant women and encephalitis patients can bring out the prevalence of this parasite in that area. Field surveys of all individuals in the village adopted by the medical college are another attractive opportunity, and the undergraduate medical students can be included in this work. As mentioned previously, molecular diagnosis can be started within the existing setup for multiple parasites. Advanced research works including genomic or proteomic studies can be undertaken in collaboration with other research institutions like the AIIMS, IITs, or IISERs which have been established in a number of states. And of course, a close liaison with the clinicians and the pathologists is necessary.Challenges do exist in any discipline, and parasitology is no exception. Financial constraints will always be there and the means to overcome them using internal or external funding and introduction of inexpensive tests can be explored. Mindset is another obstacle where an individual thinks that parasitology is an unattractive field, and branches like virology or antibacterial resistance are more fashionable and the “in-thing.” Unless the mindset is changed, we are not going to achieve anything significant.What is your advice for the young budding parasitologists?If you have decided to take up parasitology as your research interest, I am sure you will not be disappointed. There are very few players in this field in our country, and the avenues for shining in this neglected field are truly immense. Passion for a subject or topic comes through in-depth reading. So immerse yourself in books, monographs, and journals related to parasitology and you will come across so many unanswered questions. Parasitology does not end with mere identification of a worm or protozoa. It is a multilayered subject and encompasses many approaches and subdivisions and one can dedicate ones’ lifetime working on any of these subdivisions. Taxonomy, biochemistry, pathogenesis, and virulence factors, immunology, host–parasite relationship, vector biology, genetic variations, diagnostic methods. the possibilities of taking up any of these aspects for a single or a related group of parasites are endless. It is also essential that you try to get some insights into veterinary parasitology, which is a highly developed discipline. Veterinary parasitologists have developed a large number of standardized laboratory procedures, but they have not been fully explored for human parasitological investigations. A close liaison with a veterinary parasitologist will go a long way in defining your research interest and a great help in your future work. Don’t be disheartened if you come across some initial confusions, frustrations, or opposition; just follow your passion and ultimately everything will fall into place. Dr. Abhijit Chaudhury MD, DNB, D (ABMM), FIATP Dr. Abhijit Chaudhry is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences and Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women, Tirupati. He completed his MBBS from Medical College, Calcutta, and pursued MD (Microbiology) from the prestigious IMS, BHU, Varanasi. He is also the Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology. He has had an illustrious career with >30 years of experience in teaching MBBS and MD students. Dr. Abhijit has attended and presented various papers and lectures in various National and State conferences. He has also presented papers in various international conferences in Europe, Canada, and the USA. He has published >100 papers in various reputed indexed journals and also has contributed seven book chapters. He is also the Co-Editor of the Textbook of Parasitic Zoonoses, published by Springer Nature. He has also been appointed by the Government of West Bengal as Reviewer of Antibiotic Treatment Guidelines for West Bengal. He has also served as Member of National Task Force on curriculum development for Medical Lab Technology course. He is an active member of the Executive committee of the Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology. Due to his visionary leadership initiative, the Andhra Pradesh chapter of Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology (IATP) was started in 2013. Under his dynamic leadership as President of Andhra Pradesh State Chapter, the state chapter conference of IATP was held in November 2022. He is also the former Chief Managing Editor of Tropical Parasitology journal. Dr. Abhijit Chaudhry for his remarkable contribution to the field of Medical Parasitology was awarded the prestigious Fellow of Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology in 2022.

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