Tropical Disease Research, (a collaboration between World Health Organisation, United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank) is conducting phase III studies in Sudan, Iran and Pakistan with a vaccine comprising whole-cell killedLeishmania majorwith or without BCG as an adjuvant for the prophylaxis of cutaneous or visceral leishmaniasis. Vaccine for the field trial is being produced by the Razi Serum Institute in Iran.UK researchers are also developing an oral vaccine against visceral leishmaniasis by transfection for theL. majorpromastigote glycoprotein 63 (gp63) gene into a double deletion (aroA-/aroD-) mutant ofSalmonella typhimurium. This vaccine preferentially induced a T helper-1 cell response.Scientists in Brazil (Universidae Federal de Minas Gerais) also appear to be conducting clinical investigations with a vaccine for the prophylaxis of cutaneous leishmaniasis. The vaccine consists of whole antigens from killed promastigotes from 5 different strains ofL. braziliensisand appears to induce both humoral and cellular immune responses.Researchers at the Universidad Autonoma de Campeche in Mexico are investigating the immunogenicity of a subunit vaccine against cutaneous leishmaniasis. The vaccine consists of gp63 from the promastigotes ofL. major mexicanaencapsulated in liposomes. Preclinical trials are ongoing.Scientists from several nonindustrial institutes in Israel including the Weizman Institute of Science and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, have also reported successful immunisation of animal models of cutaneous leishmaniasis with a subunit vaccine containing a peptide fragment of gp63 (fromL. majorstrain WR 1045) consisting off amino acids 467-482 (p467) adjuvanted to lauryl-cysteine.A vaccine to treat leishmaniasis was undergoing preclinical development with researchers at 2 US nonindustrial centres, the Washington School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. The vaccine consisted of a leishmania gene inserted into BCG. There has been no recent evidence of continued active development of this vaccine.