? """"""""Parasitic diseases remain a major cause of illness and mortality in human populations, with a higher prevalence in developing countries as compared with the developed World. In addition to the great human suffering caused by diseases such as malaria, Chagas' disease and the leishmaniases, all diseases caused by parasitic protozoa, there is a big economic impact, due both to the high cost of health care and to the losses arising from the poor health of many workers. Restricted to the Americas, T. cruzi infection represents a great burden on human health. Chagas' disease is endemic in Argentina, with an estimate of about two million infected people; leishmaniases exist in the North of the country, mostly the cutaneous form, but there are also cases of mucosal and even visceral leishmaniasis. Recently, cases of visceral leishmaniasis have been well documented in the Province of Formosa, in northeastern Argentina. Every year there appear foci of malaria in the North of the country, due to the presence of infected migratory workers from neighboring countries, and continuous surveillance is essential. Not only are these diseases still very far from defeated, but also other pathogens have arisen over the last quarter of the past century, some new, like HIV; some opportunistic, associated with immunocompromised patients, such as Toxoplasma gondii in HIV-infected people. ? The current proposal is to support research work in trypanosomatid (T. cruzi, T. brucei) and apicomplexan parasites (Plasmodium sp., T. gondii) by highly qualified graduate and postdoctoral students at the Institute of Biotechnological Investigations/INTECH, National Institute of Parasitology (NIP) and Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases/UGA. By joining forces in this collaborative research and training plan, investigators from UGA and IIB/INTECH will meld their joint expertise to perform biochemical and molecular biological studies on these parasitic diseases, ranging from basic studies on the biochemistry and molecular biology of the pathogens, and the host/parasite relationship, to very applied aspects, like the development of new diagnostic kits, and vaccines. ? """"""""? ? ? ?
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