Advances in Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease: Biology, Epidemiology, Treatment and Control

Dear Colleagues,

Leishmaniasis and Chagas disease are neglected tropical diseases, prevalent in tropical regions, especially developing countries. Leishmaniases are a group of diseases that affects around 700,000 to 1 million people worldwide annually. Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, and it is estimated that there are about 6 to 7 million people infected with it worldwide. In Brazil, visceral leishmaniasis is considered one of the top parasitic diseases with outbreak and mortality potential, while Chagas disease is the fourth cause of death resulting from infectious and parasitic diseases. Clinical outcomes of both diseases depend on the complexity of the factors involved, related both to the parasite (genetic variability, inoculum, infectivity, pathogenicity, virulence, and inoculation pathways) and to the host (age, sex, nutrition, immune profile, and species). Few effective therapeutic options are available for both diseases, with considerable side effects and long treatment periods, in addition to an increasing development of parasite resistance to the drugs in current use. The complexity of the factors involved in the immunopathology of both Leishmaniasis and Chagas disease influences the disease pathogenesis, chemotherapy outcome, and control, highlighting the need for further studies to improve our understanding of these relationships.

This Special Issue aims to report new insights into interdisciplinary approaches covering host–parasite and vector interaction, immune response of hosts, new molecular pathways for parasite survival and persistence, new drug development and mechanisms of antiparasitic drugs, as well as control, epidemiology, and vaccine development. Studies focusing on immunopathogeny and diagnosis, host defense, survival–resistance mechanisms, host–pathogen interactions, immune response, virulence factors, molecular diagnosis, immunological diagnosis, drug and vaccine development, pharmacological resistance, phytotherapy, synthetic compounds, drug repurposing, mechanisms of action, toxicology, preclinical trials, vaccine adjuvant, vaccine antigen, antibody, clinical and epidemiological insights, clinical manifestations, risk factors, distribution, ecology transmission, life cycle, wild cycle, reservoirs, and species taxonomy are welcome. We envision that this Special Issue will introduce valuable insights regarding Leishmaniasis and Chagas disease management.

Prof. Dr. Fernando Almeida-Souza
Dr. Flávia de Oliveira Cardoso
Dr. Kátia Da Silva Calabrese
Guest Editors

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