Parasitology in the times of COVID-19

It is extremely gratifying to bring out this issue of the Journal in spite of the heightened responsibilities and commitments of everyone connected with this issue ranging from authors and reviewers to the production team, due to the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. However, even with our best efforts and intentions, the publication of this issue has got delayed.

The Puducherry Declaration on Amebiasis has been formulated and declared by eminent parasitologists from across India and features in the symposium section.[1] It is a landmark document concerning this important parasite with worldwide distribution and will be extremely helpful for everyone in the field of parasitology.

In this edition of the Journal, we have eleven original articles. Two of these articles[2,3] deal with parasitic infections in school-going children which is an extremely common problem encountered in India and other developing countries. Malaria continues to be a constant challenge in tropical countries, and another three articles mention the complications of the disease, namely multiorgan dysfunction,[4] thrombocytopenia,[5] and placental malaria.[6] Another article describes the prevalence of malaria and filaria coinfection in the studied population.[7] The study on canine intestinal parasitic infection and soil contamination by Toxocara in Sri Lanka[8] highlights the importance of One Health concept, particularly environmental sampling in zoonotic diseases, which very often remains a neglected entity. As per textbook information, rhinosporidiosis in India is confined to the coastal areas of South India. However, in one article, its presence in Central India, away from the seas, has been described.[9] The prevalence of trichomoniasis in Delhi and the comparison of various diagnostic techniques are the subject of the study in one article.[10] The study on one method for mosquito control[11] has got public health importance, and one article concerns the ectoparasite and describes the molecular identification and phylogeny of Demodex mites.[12]

Two dispatches describe myiasis; one in the female genital region[13] and another of the eye.[14] The description of a case of Naegleria fowleri central nervous system infection with favorable outcome[15] features in one dispatch, while another one describes a case of dipylidiosis.[16] There is a report which deals with echinococcosis in lungs.[17] Another dispatch deals with the treatment modalities of a difficult case of neurocysticercal encephalitis.[18] The letter to the editor deals with the pediculocidal activity of certain essential oils.[19] In the face-to-face[20] feature, we present the e-mail interview with Prof. David Blair from Australia who has done pioneering work on paragonimiasis.

The readers will notice the absence of the feature of Forthcoming Events. This has been intentionally not included since most of the conference dates are in a state of flux due to the ongoing pandemic, and many of the previously announced conferences have either been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. We shall be including the confirmed 2021 conferences in the next issue.

We hope that the readers will have a satisfying reading of many of the articles of their interest.