Antigens from Leishmania Amastigotes protect Human against Leishmania

In the endemic “Valle Arriba” neighborhood located in Caracas Venezuela with leishmaniasis morbidity 24.76 o/oo an amastigotes vaccine with four Leishmania species was applied for protection against leishmaniasis in 3191 people with a follow up of three years and also in hyperendemic “El Ingenio” with morbidity of 164.04 o/oo. The vaccine contains 8-10 proteins after treatment amastigotes with TLCK and NP40. Before the vaccine both vaccinated and control groups had 24% of positive volunteers to Delayed Type Hypersensitivity intradermic reaction with vaccine antigens. One month after three vaccines 95.67% of vaccinees previously DTH negative converted to a positive DTH. The morbidity rate was 7.94 o/oo in the vaccinated group and 56.17 in the control-unvaccinated group an incidence 7.07 times bigger after three years of the field trial. In “La Planta” hyperendemic zone 41.78% were DTH positive before vaccination with 122 cases from 1972-1994 and highest morbidity (205.23 o/oo) in 0-5 years old which points out to intra-domiciliary transmission of the disease . ELISA and immunoblottings were equal before and after vaccination the vaccine induced cellular immunity.