Trypanosomiasis Vaccine

A trypanosomiasis vaccine is a vaccine against trypanosomiasis, though no effective vaccine currently exists and development remains the subject of ongoing research, including work funded by the Gates Foundation through the Sabin Vaccine Institute and others. One major obstacle is the parasite's variant surface glycoprotein, which makes it difficult for the immune system to recognize the infectious organism, and Trypanosoma brucei also has a direct inhibitory effect on B cells. It has been suggested that these challenges could be overcome by targeting the parasite's initial antigens or by generating an immune response against the cysteine protease cruzipain, and in 2021 an effective vaccine was achieved using a mouse model of infection with the related species Trypanosoma vivax.