DNA vaccines induce a complete immune response against the encoded antigen. The exact mechanisms involved in this proccess are still poorly understood, and particularly the type of CD4 + and CD8 + effector and memory cells activated, and some of these aspects have been reviewed in detail elsewhere [1] . Apart from their immunogenicity and efficacy that will be discussed below, there are several features of DNA vaccines that make them very advantageous against tropical diseases. First, they are extremely safe as they do not contain any pathogenic organism that may revert in virulence. The major concern of genomic integration of the plasmid DNA has also extensively been studied in safety studies and found to be rather unlikely [6] . Additional safety issues such as anti-DNA antibodies or autoimmunity have also been addressed in a growing number of preclinical and clinical studies [7] , which confirmed the high safety of these vaccines. With respect to manufacturing, storage, and distribution, they also present major benefits in that the production process is the same for any DNA vaccine, which is not the case for other types of biologicals and vaccines, for which a specific protocol has to be developed for each. This makes production easy and costs will likely go down as this type of vaccines become mainstream and future technological improvements are implemented. Also, plasmid DNA is a very stable molecule, specially compared to recombinant or live attenuated vaccines, which would greatly facilitate storage and distribution of DNA vaccine in tropical settings with limited health infrastructure as the huge costs associated with the cold chain may be offset. Administration is also easy as simple IM or ID injections can be sufficient, and multiple plasmids can be combined for the elaboration of multivalent vaccines [1] . Overall, DNA vaccines may thus represent an ideally affordable alternative for disease control, which explains in part the growing interest in their development for the control of tropical parasitic diseases such as malaria, leishmaniasis, or Chagas disease.