20 for 20 : Day 1 : A visit to the Meguro Parasitological Museum in Tokyo, Japan

After the WAAVP conference this year, I had planned to spend some time in Tokyo. When searching for things to do while I was there, I happened to come across the website for the Meguro Parasitological Museum in the Meguro suburb of Tokyo. After dropping my bags off at Narita International Airport for my journey back, I took the metro train to Meguro station and walked a km to get to the museum.

On the way to the museum, there were bridges and a river.

The museum was founded by Satyu Yamaguti (1894-1976), a wild life parasitologist and taxonomist who described 1400 new sps, and was the author of monographs on five groups of helminthes and copepods.   

There was also homage paid to other Japanese parasitologists of note, including Dr. Satoshi Omura, who was instrumental in the discovery of the avermectin class of compounds, particularly the widely used ivermectin.

Neoheterobothrium from a fish

The museum occupies two levels.  On the ground floor are displays that show the vast diversity of parasites in existence, with a display specifically showing human parasites. Humans are not hosts to even 10% of the number of parasites that infect animals. Pfft! There was a very cool exhibit that displayed fish parasites, including the amazing Neoheterobothrium hirame, a blood feeding monogenean of flounders, which have beautiful haptors/ hold fast organs.

Various sps of Dactylogyrus

On the second floor were displays of animal parasites, with a special emphasis on the zoonotic ones – Echinococcus and other tapeworms, Ancylostoma, the ascarids etc. There was also a 8 meter long specimen of Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense, isolated from a human, one who probably ate too much raw seafood. There were also cases that displayed Dr. Yamaguti’s works, including manuscripts and diagrams drawn by hard, and the laborious manual cross-referencing that he probably had to do for his “Systema Helminthum”.

The best display, according to me, was the one that had wax models of helminth eggs and their contents, made to scale. I think that it would make a great teaching tool, especially for students who find it hard to understand the nuanced differences between trichostrongyle and hookworm eggs, or the difference in size that exists between Toxocara eggs and common pollen grains.

Wax models of Ascaris, Enterobius and Trichuris, to scale

I also had the privilege of meeting Dr. Takashi Iwaki, DVM, PhD, who is the curator and does research on parasites of wild animals, besides giving advise to veterinarians in the country.

Overall, the Meguro Parasitological museum was a fantastic place to visit, and other cities would do well to have something similar.

Dr. Yamaguti's manuscripts

Note:  Museum visit was on 13 Sept 2017. This post is part of a goal to write for 20 mins for 20 days.