Parasites and parasitic diseases have been prevalent in Iran according to Iranian ancient scholars and physicians’ inscriptions dating back to 865–1496. Some protozoan diseases such as malaria and cutaneous leishmaniasis have been introduced by clinical manifestations and helminthic infections by size and morphology of the worms. Scientific studies of Parasitology started in Iran from 1833, first by foreign physicians and continued from 1909 by Iranian researchers. The pioneer medical parasitologists of Iran were Dr N. Ansari and Dr. Sh. Mofidi who established the Department of Medical Parasitology in the School of Medicine, University of Tehran, 1939. Afterward, a considerable number of researchers and professors of parasitology have been active in training and research works in the fields of medical parasitology throughout the entire nation. At present, some significant parasitic diseases such as bilharsiasis and dracunculiasis are more or less eradicated and malaria is in the elimination phase. The prevalence of most helminthic infections has considerably decreased. Most of the departments of medical Parasitology in Iran are active in training MD, MSPH and PhD students. The Iranian Society of Parasitology established in 1994 is active with many eligible members and its creditable publication, the Iranian Journal of Parasitology, published seasonally since 2006. From 1833, when the scientific studies of Parasitology have started in Iran up to 2013, many researchers have been done on various fields of medical Parasitology and parasitic diseases in Iran and 2517 papers in English and 1890 papers in Persian have been published in national and international scientific journals. In addition, more than 420 books related in the field of medical parasitology field have been published in Persian language.

One of the common problems in the medical parasitology laboratory is the differentiation of parasites from other elements in the stool and body fluids so-called "artifacts". Artifacts generally referred to living or abiotic agents that embedded in the clinical sample and may misleading the lab because of their similarity to parasitic organisms. Artifacts are an integral part of the diagnosis process and they are cause of common misdiagnosis in the laboratory. Their differentiation from pathogenic parasitic agents is done by proper diagnosis, which leads to proper treatment of parasitic infections. As usually an inexperienced technician often misdiagnosed a yeast or other plant cell as amoeba or considers a platelet as a malaria parasite, it may be unsuccessful to identify parasitic organisms that really exist in the stool sample. The major forms that cause confusion and misdiagnosis in parasitology laboratory are spores, fat droplets, yeast, red blood cells, and macrophages. Compared with other parts of the medical laboratory, in parasitology lab less attention observe to this problem. The consequence is the reporting of false positive results, incorrect treatment, and patient injury. Identifying, introducing, and differentiating artifacts for laboratory personnel, especially inexperienced, are an important factor in accurate diagnosis. In the present study, key diagnostic points of parasitic organisms and artifacts have been categories.

Over the recent years, the number of systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in journals has been growing significantly. The editors are usually interested in such articles, as they are sup-posed to be informative and may get good cita-tion numbers, which helps to improve the rank-ing of the journal. . . .

Dear Editor-in-Chief: Parasitic diseases are associated with major mor-bidity and mortality worldwide (1). Therefore, the best strategy adopted to tackle the aforemen-tioned crisis associated with parasitic diseases is to develop new biotechnologies in order to im-prove the efficacy and specificity of diagnostic tests, and the tolerability of existing antiparasitic agents. In this review, we would discuss some nanobiotechnology applications in the diagnosis and treatment of parasitic diseases. . .

Dear Editor-in-Chief: since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, it has had a significant impact on various scientific fields (1-4), including education, writing, research, case reports, clinical consulting and coding. . . .

Background: Parasitology is a course filled with many complicated terminologies. In this study, a guide was designed to facilitate the learning of parasitology. More precisely, an annual educational calendar of medical parasitology was designed based on the weeks of education and its effectiveness was assessed in university students of medical sciences. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 174 students who were randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. At the baseline, the students were tested with a questionnaire at the beginning of each teaching session and the end of the intervention. In addition, another questionnaire was used to compare the attitude and satisfaction of students in two groups. Finally, the scores of the students were entered in SPSS 16 for analysis. Results: The results of parametric tests showed that the mean scores of laboratory and medical students during several tests in different sessions were significantly different in the two groups. Conclusion: The educational calendar is a new method in medical education, especially in the field of medical parasitology. This calendar as an educational supplement, emphasizes on students’ active learning and contributes to improving the quality of teaching the parasitology course in addition to meeting their educational needs.

The aim of this study was to compare three approaches of teaching medical a parasitological course. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 94 medical and pharmacy students. Lecture-based approach, problem-based approach and combined approach were applied to teach the parasitology course. Kappa and SPSS16 were used to analyze the obtained data. 82.9% of students were interested in lecture-based learning, 64.9% were attracted by problem-based learning and 91.5% opted for combined approach. 96.8% and 62.8% of the students preferred final examination be administered as multiple choice questions and case history tests, respectively. 97.9% of them indicated that the lecturer’s behavior affected the learning outcome and 67% did not believe in the impact of papers on teaching and learning parasitology course. Further, students were interested in using logbooks in practical laboratory (P<0.005). Combined approach should be initiated and directed toward harmonization of the curriculum to enhance learning.

Background: The complicated host-parasite relationships have hindered the effective diagnosis, treatment, and control of human parasitic diseases. This review examines how genomics and proteomics are unraveling these complex interactions and transforming human parasitology. Materials & Methods: Related studies were chosen according to the PRISMA flow diagram. An extensive literature search between January 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, and a systematic screening process was undertaken, resulting in the identification and inclusion of 72 studies in this narrative review on the applications of genomics and proteomics in human parasitology research. Articles that were duplicates, irrelevant based on title/abstract screening, unavailable, or irrelevant based on full text review were excluded from the study. Findings: A total of 453 records were retrieved, of which 72 articles remained after title, abstract, and full text screening. Genomics and proteomics have elucidated parasite biology, enabled precision diagnostics, and guided drug development by providing molecular insights into host-parasite interactions. However, challenges remain, including computational complexity and translation of findings to human infections. Conclusion: The integration of genomics and proteomics has allowed an unprecedented understanding of human parasites and holds great promise for improving diagnosis, treatment, and control.