Schistosomiasis is a chronic disease that affects approximately 207 million people worldwide, causing annual losses of 4.5 million in DALY. The complex parasite life cycle and its mechanisms of evasion from the host immune system make prevention of the infection and also the early diagnosis and treatment difficult, impacting directly on disease control. On the other hand, the immune modulation induced by infection or parasite molecules has an important role in modulating inflammatory diseases, such as allergies. The sequencing of the parasite genome has provided important data for research progress in this area and many challenges in schistosomiasis field, including the development of more sensitive diagnostic methods, development of new effective drugs against the parasite, development of a vaccine against infection, and also the understanding of the complex host-parasite interaction.

We invite investigators to contribute with original research articles as well as reviews that improve the knowledge in schistosomiasis research field. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• New schistosomiasis diagnosis approach
• Innate and adaptative immunity to schistosomes
• Vaccine development
• Protective immune mechanisms against the parasite
• New therapeutic targets
• Host-parasite interaction
• Immune modulation induced by parasite
• Parasite genome and genetics
• Molecular and cellular biology of the parasite

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jpr/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: