Emerging point-of-care technologies for bacterial pathogen detection

Area of Science:

• Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
• Biomedical Engineering
• Diagnostic Technologies

Background:

• Bacterial infections pose a significant global health threat, necessitating rapid and accurate diagnostics.
• Point-of-care testing (POCT) offers a promising solution with its portability and operational simplicity.
• Existing literature lacks frameworks for selecting optimal detection targets and matching them to POCT modalities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review recent advances in POCT strategies for bacterial detection.
• To categorize these strategies based on detection targets: cellular phenotypes, surface antigens, and nucleic acids.
• To discuss the principles, pros, cons, and applications of various POCT platforms.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of recent studies on bacterial POCT.
• Categorization of POCT methods by detection targets (phenotypic, antigenic, nucleic acid).
• Discussion of key platforms: microscopy, immunoassays, isothermal amplification, CRISPR-Cas, microfluidic biosensors.

Main Results:

• POCT integration with microfluidics, lab-on-chip, and smartphone technology enhances sensitivity, specificity, and automation.
• Various platforms show promise for detecting bacterial targets.
• Innovations are addressing challenges in sample pretreatment, sensitivity, and simplicity.

Conclusions:

• POCT is a transformative strategy for timely bacterial detection.
• Further research is needed to develop integrated, automated, and intelligent POCT systems for clinical use.
• Optimizing target selection and platform matching is critical for effective POCT deployment.