A Trypanosomiasis vaccine is a vaccine against trypanosomiasis. No effective vaccine currently exists, but development of a vaccine is the subject of current research.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been involved in funding research conducted by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and others.[1]
There are many obstacles to development of such a vaccine. One obstacle is variant surface glycoprotein which makes it difficult for the immune system to recognize the infectious organism.[2] Also, Trypanosoma brucei has a direct inhibitory effect upon B cells.[3]
It has been suggested that these challenges could be overcome by a vaccine against the initial antigens,[4] or generating an immune response against the cysteine protease (for example, cruzipain).[5][6]
An effective vaccine was achieved in 2021 using a mouse model of infection with Trypanosoma vivax.[7]