ABSTRACT
Infectious diseases represent leading threats to human health and cause millions of deaths worldwide every year. The prevention and cure of pathogen infections remain challenging tasks due to various obstacles. For instance, the increased antibiotic resistance attributed to the abuse of antibiotics has limited their further application against bacterial infection. Regarding anti-viral drug therapeutics, severe adverse effects, like damage to the gastrointestinal tract or visceral organs, can be observed. Additionally, abuse of anti-viral drugs or their long-term administration can result in drug resistance. Thus, novel strategies for the prevention and therapy of pathogen-associated infections are highly desired. Among many promising anti-pathogen strategies, the application of advanced hydrogels has exhibited great potential for therapeutics with better efficacy. Importantly, the 3D porous structure of hydrogel networks and the conformational changes in response to microenvironmental conditions attribute hydrogels to be fit for controllable drug delivery with high loading efficiency. In addition, the enhanced bioactivity, excellent biocompatibility, and good mechanical strength, in combination with other excellent features prove the suitability of hydrogels with great potency for anti-pathogen treatment. As a number of recent publications proposed a broad range of applications for hydrogels, this chapter intends to overview hydrogels for anti-pathogen application. It will, thus, broadly emphasize the treatment of pathogen infection describing the anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, and anti-parasitic activities of hydrogels during therapy. This chapter will provide the most recent developments and challenges of the functional hydrogels for infectious disease therapy and offer a deeper insight into hydrogel functionalization for future advanced applications in infectious disease therapeutics.
