Chapter 29 - Nanotechnology and detection of microbial pathogens

Abstract

The consumption of unsafe water and food in developing countries is one of the major causes of infectious disease outbreaks. The existing methods for the detection of pathogens prevalence in water and food samples are expensive, time consuming, and highly diverse. A majority of these pathogens often escape detection by conventional methods. The detection of target pathogens requires the development of innovative, simple, rapid, sensitive, and highly specific methods to overcome existing drawbacks for the management of infectious disease outbreaks. The recent advancements in nanotechnology have led to the development of nanoparticle-based facile assays for specific detection of bioanalytes of clinical interest. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with unique optical properties and high surface area are being extensively used for facile detection of bioanalytes of interest in the samples. The outstanding physicochemical properties of GNPs have proved advantageous over conventional detection methods for diagnostic purposes. The colloidal solution of GNPs exhibits intense red and blue/purple colors depending on the size, shape, and degree of aggregation of nanoparticles. This chapter encompasses the application of nanotechnology in field of pathogen detection and provides an insight on how nanotechnology can be exploited to overcome the problems related to the existing methods of detection.