Why do we still have not a vaccine against Chagas disease?

This review does not intend to convey detailed experimental or bibliographic data. Instead, it expresses the informal authors' personal views on topics that range from basic research on antigens and experimental models for Trypanosoma cruzi infection to vaccine prospects and vaccine production. The review also includes general aspects of Chagas' disease control and international and national policies on the subject. The authors contributed equally to the paper.

HPV & HPV vaccination: Issues in developing countries.

Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer in women worldwide causing most cancer related deaths in women in developing countries including India. The most predominant etiological factor for cervical cancer is persistent infection of certain high-risk types of human papillomaviruses (HR-HPVs), while low-risk types are associated with benign cervical lesions and genital warts. In India, the most common (98%) oncogenic types are HPV types 16 and 18 with HPV 16 exclusively (80-90%) prevalent. Two recently developed virus-like particle (VLP) based prophylactic HPV vaccines, quadrivalent Gardasil (HPV 16/18/6/11) and Cervarix (HPV 16/18) offer great promise. Several other therapeutic vaccines are also in clinical trials and are yet to establish their efficacy. The use of already developed VLP vaccines in resource-poor regions is limited by several factors, most importantly the high cost of the vaccine. Therefore efforts are being made in India to develop cost-effective second-generation vaccines. Besides cost, there are several socio-cultural and ethical issues involved with the implementation of already developed vaccines including the acceptability of HPV vaccination by preadolescent girls and their parents in India.