DOENÇA DE CHAGAS


CONTROLE DE DOENÇAS TRANSMISSÍVEIS; VACINAS

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CAMARGO, Erney Plessmann; GAZZINELLI, Ricardo Tostes; MOREL, Carlos Médicis; PRECIOSO, Alexander Roberto. Why do we still have not a vaccine against Chagas disease?. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, [online], v. 117, e200314, 2022. Disponível em Scielo

This review does not intend to convey detailed experimental or bibliographic data. Instead, it expresses the informal authors’ personal views on topics that range from basic research on antigens and experimental models for Trypanosoma cruzi infection to vaccine prospects and vaccine production. The review also includes general aspects of Chagas’ disease control and international and national policies on the subject. The authors contributed equally to the paper.


DOENÇAS TROPICAIS NEGLIGENCIADAS; PESQUISA MÉDICA TRANSLACIONAL; PAÍSES EM DESENVOLVIMENTO; TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI

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MOREL, Carlos M. Significance of a neglected tropical disease: lessons from a paradigmatic case of ‘success in translation’. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, [online], v. 117, e200277, 2022. Disponível em Scielo

In a previous publication, I stressed the fundamental importance of research for improving health using as an example the control of Chagas disease in the Americas.(1) For that purpose, I analysed the major scientific breakthroughs and public health events from the 1909 discovery of Chagas disease and its causative pathogen, Trypanosoma cruzi, by Carlos Chagas,(2) through the successful control of its transmission by insect vectors in large regions of the Southern Cone countries in the 90s.(3) In the twenty years since that publication, Brazil and Latin American countries had to cope with a number of serious public health threats, old and new: (i) recrudescence of well-known diseases, such as dengue and yellow fever; (ii) emergence of viral diseases that had been restricted to other continents (Zika, Chikungunya); (iii) new epidemics (H1N1) or (iv) pandemics (COVID-19). Are there still some lessons from that success story against a neglected disease of the 90s that would be relevant today in the context of these recent challenges?