he administration of anti-trypanosome nitroderivatives curtails Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Chagas disease patients, but does not prevent destructive lesions in the heart. This observation suggests that an effective treatment for the disease requires understanding its pathogenesis. To understand the origin of clinical manifestations of the heart disease we used a chicken model system in which infection can be initiated in the egg, but parasite persistence is precluded. T. cruzi...

In the third part of this lecture, I will discuss current work from our laboratory on mechanisms used by the intracellular parasites Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania to interact with mammalian cells. In addition to clarifying specific molecular strategies used by these parasites to infect and survive within host cells, these studies also led, in some instances, to unexpected insights on novel pathways regulating mammalian cell function.

In the second part of this lecture, I will present background material on Leishmania, the intracellular protozoan parasites responsible for severe human pathology in several parts of the world. I will discuss the main disease forms, the history of identification of the causative agent and form of transmission, and recent discoveries that established important concepts in our understanding of this increasingly serious infectious disease.

Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania are closely related intracellular protozoan parasites that cause serious diseases throughout the world. In the first part of this lecture, I will present background material on the biology of Trypanosoma cruzi and the history of its discovery as an important agent of human disease in Latin America. I will also discuss the main characteristics of the disease, and the current efforts to stop human transmission. For more information see:...