How Modulations of the Gut Microbiota May Help in Preventing or Treating Parasitic Diseases

Due to the combined effects of international travel, climate change, and globalization, clinicians in Southern Europe are seeing a re-emergence of parasitic infections once thought to have been eradicated, which can often result in chronic illness, and thus present new diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Here, we comment on two such parasitic protozoa, Trypanosomacruzi and Plasmodium, and how modulation of the gut microbiota can provide exciting new possible therapeutic strategies in the treatment and prevention of Chagas disease and malaria.