Abstract

Infectious diseases are the cause of more than 5 million deaths annually, which corresponds to approximately 10% of all deaths worldwide. Rapid and reliable diagnosis is a key aspect in reducing the number of deaths associated with infectious diseases since fast commencement of the correct treatment will not only improve patient survival but also reduce the risk of spreading the disease. Moreover, fast and reliable diagnosis prevent the wrong medicine from being prescribed, something that otherwise may lead to hmedication overuse and increased drug resistance. DNA based sensors are a group of diagnostic sensors that have attracted much attention due to their potentials for specific, sensitive, and fast detection of disease associated target molecules. In the following chapter, we will go through examples of different DNA sensors and describe the wide variety of readout systems that have been applied for DNA-sensor mediated detection of infectious diseases.