Immunoprotection in Chagas' disease

A comparative study of anti-Trypanosoma cruzi serum obtained in acute and chronic phase of infection in mice

“…Thus, antibodies present in day 14 p.i. revealed all the bands above 70 kDa which include the proteins involved in the induction of protective antibodies [12]. These findings agree with previous results of Gr6gl and Kuhn [13] and Zweerink et al [14] who, working with cell culture-derived trypomastigote and epimastigote antigens, have also detected a similar antigenic pattern to that revealed with acute and chronic mouse sera.…”

Perspectives of vaccination in Chagas disease revisited

“…However, there is a problem today that we did not completely formulate in 1982, although I raised the issue on later occasions (Camargo 1984(Camargo , 2000.The problem is: to whom would a Chagas vaccine be destined? Which population would be the target for a Chagas vaccine?…”

“…Without a diagnostic method with such capabilities, the actual effectiveness of a vaccine cannot be properly evaluated, not only in experimental models, but also in humans. As we said in 1982 and I reiterated at later opportunities (Camargo 1984(Camargo , 2000, due to the silent and slow-evolving pathology of chronic Chagas, the evaluation of the effectiveness of a vaccine would take years. Thus, even if we had already overcome all laboratory and experimental barriers to developing a heroic vaccine capable of attenuating the acute phase, the field tests designed to assess whether such a vaccine could prevent chronic disease in man would take decades of clinical observation.…”