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Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas' disease, an ailment characterized by a progressive chronic fibrotic myocarditis and degeneration of tissues that are innervated by the autonomic nervous system, is a voracious sialic acid eater from glycoconjugates of the surrounding medium. This is accomplished through an active trans‐sialidase residing on the surface membrane of the trypomastigote stage, which is the parasite form that invades vertebrate cells. The existence of the enzyme was proposed and established only 7 years ago and yet a flood of information on the subject is already available. Trans‐sialidase is able to reversibly transfer sialic acid α(2å3)‐linked to an external Galβ from the host cell surface sialoglycoconjugates to a terminal Galβ of an appropriate acceptor on the parasite surface. In the absence of an acceptor, the enzyme acts as a hydrolase transferring sialic acid to water. Trans‐sialidase …