Nanoparticle formulations for therapeutic delivery, pathogen imaging and theranostic applications in bacterial infections

Pathogenic bacterial infections represent an ever-growing crisis, now significantly threatening life expectancy across the worldwide population and thus novel approaches to tackle this issue are urgently needed. The application of nanotechnology in recent years has opened up new horizons in the selective or specific delivery of drugs or imaging agents to infectious sites. In particular, the development of nanoparticles for both delivery of active substances and imaging of infection sites is now gathering much interest. Although still in its infancy, the field of antibacterial nanomedicines provides exciting new possibilities to combat multi-resistant bacterial infections and shows great promise for personalized medicine in antibacterial stewardship. This review examines nanoparticle-based formulations used for therapeutic delivery, pathogen tracking in diagnosis, and combined "theranostic" approaches to more effectively treating bacterial infections.