A Critical Review on Ultrasensitive, Spectroscopic-based Methods for High-throughput Monitoring of Bacteria during Infection Treatment

ABSTRACT

The world is in the midst of a pre-emptive public health emergency, one that is just as dramatic as the global aggressive viruses-related crises (Ebola, Zika, or SARS), but not as visible. The “superbugs” and their antimicrobial resistance do not cause much public alarm or awareness, but provoke financial losses of $100 trillion annually (WHO, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/commentaries/superbugs-action-now/en/).

This status quo review offers an overview of ultrasensitive methods for high-throughput monitoring of bacteria during infection treatment, the effects of antibiotics on bacteria at single-cell level and the challenges we will face in their detection due to the extraordinary capability of these “superbugs” to gain and constantly improve multiresistance to antibiotics. A special emphasis is put on the ultrasensitive spectroscopic-based analysis techniques, using nanotechnology or not necessarily, that are more and more promising alternatives to conventional culture-based ones. The particular case of Mycobacteria detection is discussed based on recent reported work.

KEYWORDS:

• Antimicrobial resistance
• high-throughput monitoring
• mycobacteria
• ultrasensitive spectroscopy

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express sincere appreciation to Prof. Dr. Christoph Haisch (Institüt für Wasserchemie und Balneologie, Technische Universität München, München) and Dr. Andreas Wieser (Medizinische Mikrobiologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München) for their kindness to provide us the Mycobacteria species bacterial strains to be SERS tested with the Raman setup found at the Institute of Hydrochemistry München premises (Analytical Chemistry Chair, Technische Universität München, Germany), during a work visit.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-0862.