diff --git a/package/setup.py b/package/setup.py
index 273edf6f8cc..df6566b4b6f 100755
--- a/package/setup.py
+++ b/package/setup.py
@@ -311,7 +311,8 @@ def extensions(config):
                                                     'MDAnalysis/lib/formats'],
                        define_macros=largefile_macros)
     util = MDAExtension('lib.cython_util',
-                        sources=['MDAnalysis/lib/cython_util.pyx'])
+                        sources=['MDAnalysis/lib/cython_util.pyx'],
+                        include_dirs=include_dirs)
 
     return [dcd, dcd_time, distances, distances_omp, qcprot,
             transformation, xtc, trr, util]