Natural products as trypanocidal, antileishmanial and antimalarial drugs.

Parasitic diseases caused by protozoa as Leishmania, Trypanosome or Plasmodium are responsible for more than three millions deaths annually throughout the developing countries. This review covers recent studies on plant-secondary metabolites isolated from medicinal plants and that have demonstrated moderate to high activity in in vitro and in vivo bioassays against these protozoa. The biological activity of the last promising antiparasitic leads are described.