Biosensors for diagnosis of urinary tract infections: Advances and future challenges

Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) have become a serious health concern globally due to its increasing incidence, recurrence rates, and high antimicrobial resistance among uropathogens (viz. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Conventional methods such as urine culture, urine microscopy is being used for diagnosis which is time-consuming and laborious whereas other techniques such as ELISA, PCR, Raman spectroscopy, MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy, flow cytometry, nucleic-acid based diagnostics, isothermal calorimetry are rapid but requires well-trained experts and costly instruments. Thus, there is an urgent demand for a rapid, portable, highly sensitive, and cost-effective diagnostic tool. Biosensors are recognized to be an efficient and emerging technology providing an early and accurate determination of uropathogens which is the management key of UTIs. In this review, we have discussed the overview of challenges and future directions of developing biosensors along with nanomaterial application as an improvised strategy leading to the design of ultrasensitive and effective point of care device and emphasizing more on sensitivity and selectivity.

Keywords

• Urinary tract infections
• Uropathogen
• Nanomaterials
• Biosensors