diff --git a/src/include/h5core/h5_core.h b/src/include/h5core/h5_core.h
index 715e58b..87f412d 100644
--- a/src/include/h5core/h5_core.h
+++ b/src/include/h5core/h5_core.h
@@ -191,6 +191,9 @@ done:								\
 }
 #endif
 
+#if defined(PARALLEL_IO)
+#include <mpi.h>
+#endif
 
 #include "h5_types.h"
 #include "h5_errno.h"