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Leishmaniasis: Improved vaccine candidate demonstrates protection A research collaboration between the United States and Bangladesh has improved its own vaccine candidate and demonstrated it to be effective. The vaccine’s target, visceral leishmaniasis, is a deadly parasitic disease transmitted via the bites of sandflies. The collaboration, led by Steven Reed of the United States’ Infectious Disease Research Institute, previously developed a vaccine that presents two parasite-derived proteins (antigens) to a host’s immune system, allowing it to build a defense. The new vaccine candidate contains three antigens and has shown to confer disease resistance to hamsters who were subsequently exposed to infected sandflies. This is the first time a vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis has stood up in tests where the host has been infected through natural methods, which inspires confidence in the vaccine’s capacity to work in the wild.