ABSTRACT
Keywords: E. coli, S. typhi, S. pneumonia, lateral flow devices, microfluidics, lab-on-a-chip, nanodiagnostics, nanoparticles, nanotechnology, pointof-care, nanofluidics, computer models, nucleic acids, polymerase chain reaction
and in developing countries, an emphasis is laid on the diagnosis of typhoid fever, E. coli infections, and pneumococcal infections. A bacterial infection can be identified in several ways such as (1) detection of microbial antigens or metabolites in patients’
blood, urine, stool, or other samples, (2) detection of specific nucleic acids (mRNA, DNA), (3) presence of whole bacteria, (4) detection of bacterial growth in a suited culture medium, and (5) detection of a specific serologic response to an infection. Method selection for diagnosis depends on the bacterial type, the clinical manifestation or the location of the infection, the epidemiologic setting, the available health care budget, and many other factors. In diseases like typhoid fever due to S. typhi, as few as 1 bacterium per microliter of blood may be present but may hide intracellularly in >50% [2], explaining false negative blood cultures even in manifest infection.
