Figure 3.

Integrating new approaches into control strategies for kinetoplastid infections. In the past decade, genetic sequencing efforts and manipulation of trypanosomatid genomes have elucidated the characterization of virulence factors and parasite biochemical pathways involved in the pathogenesis disease. These advances allowed the design of new drug targets and therapeutic vaccines capable of reducing the parasitic burden thus controlling the infection and its clinical symptoms. The integration of these tools with epidemiological interventions into public health programs should yield substantial gains in controlling the transmission cycles of these vector-borne diseases. In this line, important studies in the field of vector control interventions have defined a multi-parametric analysis using geographic information system technologies to monitor spatial analysis of drug resistance and parasite polymorphisms to delineate epidemic-prone areas. Those studies have offered a powerful platform for prospecting and development of tools and technologies capable of effectively defining elimination programs in the control and eradication of kinetoplastid diseases.