Role of nanotechnologies against infectious diseases: The paradigm of mycobacterium tuberculosis. perspectives for prevention, diagnosis and treatment

Tuberculosis (TB) still represents one of the most overshadowing public health issues, particularly in developing countries. The efforts that are currently being made by the scientific community are many and sprout on various fronts, but can be divided in three basic avenues: development of new vaccines for prevention, generation of new and advanced diagnostic tools, and finally improvement of the chemotherapy. An "outside-the-box" approach is hence needed to develop new and improved instruments to fight Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of TB. Cutting-edge technologies, such as nanotechnologies, can provide innovative and powerful tools to conquer this ancient infectious disease. Here, some notable examples of how nanotechnologies have entered in infectious diseases field will be presented, discussing how the "white plague," namely the TB, can represent a paradigm of a complex infectious disease whose several aspects must be kept in consideration. Copyright © 2014 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.