Animal models have a long
history of being useful tools, not only to test and select
vaccines, but also to help understand the elaborate details of the
immune response that follows
infection. Different models have been extensively used to investigate putative immunological correlates of
protection against
parasitic diseases that are important to reach a successful
vaccine. The greatest challenge has been the improvement and adaptation of these models to reflect the reality of
human disease and the
screening of
vaccine candidates capable of overcoming the challenge of natural
transmission. This
review will discuss the advantages and challenges of using
experimental animal models for
vaccine development and how the
knowledge achieved can be extrapolated to
human disease by looking into two important
parasitic diseases malaria and
leishmaniasis.