**5. Concluding remarks**

*Plasmodium vivax* is the most widespread and the second most prevalent malariacausing species in the world. CSP, although highly informative, is not a perfect measure of this parasite genetic diversity. However, this could provide interesting baseline data that allow identifying potential new cases infected by parasites diverse from those currently circulating in a determined area. Individuals residing in malariaendemic areas may be infected with different parasite genotypes, resulting from multiple bites from infectious mosquitoes or bites from mosquitoes infected with

multiple parasite genotypes. This fact can also vary considerably based on differences in the epidemiological scenarios. More investment and a greater effort toward the development of *P. vivax* vaccine components for a multispecies vaccine are required. This is due to the wide geographic coexistence of these *Plasmodium vivax* variants, but also to increased drug resistance, recent observations of severe and lethal cases of *P. vivax*, and recurrent parasite behavior. Knowledge of the *P. vivax* genome contributed to several discoveries; however, new studies to evaluate vaccines still need to be designed.
