Abstract
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an epidemic in Brazil, and its diagnosis and immunology have been studied using classical or protein antigens in general. Haptens are macromolecules of molecular weight between 1 and 5 KDa which are composed of peptides, small polysaccharides and complex lipids, and which have the ability to react with antibodies and immune cells incompletely, perhaps interf…