Vaccine development for Chagas Disease

ANGEL MARCELO PADILLA; CECILIA PEREZ BRANDAN; MIGUEL ANGEL BASOMBRIO

American Trypanosomiasis

Elsevier

Año: 2010; p. 827 - 848

Vaccines have had an indisputable impact on the control of many important human and veterinary diseases and unquestionably have shaped the health landscape of recent generations. In spite of the crucial benefits obtained with vaccines for diseases like smallpox and poliomyelitis, many tropical diseases, commonly referred to as “neglected diseases,” suffer from the lack of an effective vaccine. Chagas disease is one of these neglected diseases, and it is a major health problem in Latin American countries, especially the poorest ones. The advantages of a Chagas disease vaccine would be significant not just in terms of public health but also economic and social development (Hotez and Ferris, 2006). Although some important advances on the comprehension of human immune response to Trypanosoma cruzi infection have occurred, most of our knowledge about immune mechanisms and protective response comes from experimental animal models.Trypanosoma cruzi infection have occurred, most of our knowledge about immune mechanisms and protective response comes from experimental animal models.