Trypanosoma rangeli: What we know about it and the imTrypanosoma rangeli: What we know about it and the impact

Trypanosoma rangeli is a protozoanparasite belonging to the Trypanosomatidae family and,generally, is not considered a pathogenic for a vertebratehost. However, T. rangeli produces pathogenic effects forinsect vector populations that sometimes causes the deathof infected triatomideae. This hemofl agellate shares withTrypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas′ disease,immunochemical and biological characteristics such as geographicaldistribution, animal reservoirs, vectors, vertebratehosts and antigenic determinants. This is one of the reasons for a great deal of confusion, when we diagnose Chagas′disease. Therefore, we should consider this parasite as animportant one for medical research. However, despite of theabove, we accept the fact that our knowledge about T.rangeli is quite limited, basically regarding its biochemical,immunological and molecular characteristics. In this articlewe review several biological characteristics of T. rangeli, inorder to motivate more extensive research on this importantparasite as a medical tool.