Nanomedical therapeutic strategies against intracellular protozoa in the Americas.

ROMERO, EDER Y MORILLA, MARIA JOSE

Nanotechnology in Diagnosis, Treatment and Prophylaxis of Infectious Diseases

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2015;

Leishmaniasis and Chagas disease, the most importat protozoan infections in Latin America and the Caribean are caused by intracellular parasites. Treatments of Chagas disease and cutaneous leishmaniasis suffer the limitations of toxicity, variable efficacy, requirements for parenteral administration and length of treatment regimens. In spite of progress in visceral leishmaniasis treatments, the high cost is its main limitation. No preventive and therapeutic vaccine exists for these diseases. An attractive alternative to the urgent need of developing new medication alternative to current treatments, being less toxic, more effective and that do not generate resistence, is offered by the intervention of nanotechnology in the pharmaceutical and immunological field. In this chapter we will review how nanomedicines could help to solve the problems posed by the treatment and prophylaxis of parastic disease like leishmaniasis and Chagas disease, the main parasitosis of the Americas