The only museum not for the faint of heart in Vietnam

The Parasite Museum at the Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology is the only place in Vietnam that displays hundreds of specimens of parasites terrifying to humans.

The Parasitology Museum is located on the 9th floor at the central building of the Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology, (Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi). This place displays 345 specimens, including roundworms, hookworms, flukes, disease vectors. preserved in jars, tanks, and glass dishes filled with formalin.

The museum was conceived in 2010 and officially established in 2013. The museum introduces the diversity and life cycle of dangerous parasites for humans and animals.

The artifacts here are preserved according to strict procedures. For worms, they will be dyed with the chemical carmind and attached to dry specimen boxes, and for adult tapeworms, they will be attached to glass plates and preserved in formalin solution.

In addition to specimens of parasites affecting humans, photos showing the harmful effects these parasites cause on the human body are also displayed.

A specimen of human liver infected with flukes was soaked in formalin solution and displayed in the museum. The specimen was collected in Nghia Hung district (Ha Nam Ninh province, now Nam Dinh province) in 1990.

A tuft of human roundworms numbering up to hundreds was discovered and collected in 1998.

Specimens of roundworms and tapeworms and their harmful effects on human health are collected and displayed at the museum.

Samples of intermediate hosts that transmit worms and flukes to humans such as stream crabs, eels, and fish are also collected, processed, preserved, and displayed at the museum by a team of experts.

At the museum, many microscope models manufactured in the Soviet Union that are decades old are kept. They have contributed significantly to the research and study of thousands of doctors at the Institute of Malaria - Ky. Parasites - Insect Central for many years.


According to Associate Professor Dr. Do Trung Dung, Head of the Department of Parasitology, Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology, the museum is not only a place to store specimens but also a prestigious address for educational purposes. practice and research of many generations of medical students, graduate students, and doctors at home and abroad.

Also on the 9th floor of this building is the Insect Museum . The museum was built in 1957, when the Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology was newly established, then called the Specimen Storage and Preservation Room.

By 2003, it was upgraded and named Insect Museum. With thousands of specimens stored and displayed, including many standard samples.

The insect museum has provided specimens as well as collated specimens for research in the field of medical science, especially studies on Systematics and Taxonomy, Resources and Biodiversity of Medical insects, ectoparasitic insects.

Host specimens and insect specimens are divided into 4 main groups. Group 1 : Ectoparasitic hosts - Mice, deer, roe deer. ectoparasitic insect hosts. Group 2 : Diptera: Anopheles mosquito (malaria vector), Aedes mosquito (dengue vector); Culex mosquito (Japanese encephalitis vector). Group 3 : Ectoparasitic insects: Fleas (plague); ticks (tick fever, Rickettsial diseases); groin (morbid fever); mites (Rickettsial diseases). Group 4 : Some other species: Flies, Ants, kissing bugs, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, lice.

A very rare complete tiger skin is displayed in the museum grounds. This specimen was collected on May 2, 1981 in Dong Phu, Dong Xoai (Song Be province, now Binh Phuoc province).

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Dung, Head of Entomology Department, Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology: "In Vietnam, there are a number of agencies that store samples for research and teaching such as the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Agriculture. Hanoi Industrial Park I and a number of other Universities. However, only at the Insect Museum at the Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology is there a museum dedicated to storing animal specimens. medical arthropods in such a large number and variety" .