ABSTRACT
Trypanosomatids are parasitic protozoa responsible for a range of diseases, including African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis. They infect millions of humans worldwide and are responsible for thousands of deaths every year. The family Trypanosomatidae belongs to the protist order Kinetoplastida and includes a wide range of flagellated protozoa exhibiting different shapes, life cycles, geographical distributions and cellular, molecular and genetic characteristics. Kinetoplastids are among the most ancient eukaryotes and, according to rRNA studies, they have rRNA lineage extending further back than those of animals, plants or fungi. According to The World Health Organization members of the Trypanosomatidae family causing human diseases infect between 15 and 20 million people worldwide and are responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of people each year. Most of these infections and deaths take place in poor countries where these diseases have a very important social and economic impact.
