Applications of gold nanoparticles in virus detection

Draz, Mohamed Shehata; Shafiee, Hadi

Along with these limitations in virus detection and control, the possibility of viral infection emergence or reemergence has become increasingly prevalent, and severe pandemics and epidemics have occurred around the world. In the past, many outbreaks of viruses, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), influenza virus (H5N1 and H1N1) and Zika virus, started as local events and then expanded to have global consequences. HIV was discovered in Central Africa as a new virus causing acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) three decades ago, and it now represents one of the most significant public health threats worldwide [20, 21] . The highly contagious respiratory virus SARS has fueled global fears of pandemics since its first appearance in China [22, 23] . In late 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised a global alert for a new SARS-like respiratory coronavirus, which is now called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus. MERS is now classified as one of the most prominent viral threats to the Middle East and has caused hundreds of deaths and thousands of infections in a short time. Moreover, in the past few years, the world witnessed the worst Ebola outbreak ever that started to hit West Africa in early 2014 and the pandemic reemergence of Zika virus in 2016 [11, 12, 24] . With these evident possibilities of massive outbreaks and implications, the situation is rapidly growing more serious, and the demand for the development of rapid diagnostics and effective control strategies is becoming more urgent.