Nanobodies in the fight against infectious diseases: repurposing nature's tiny weapons.

Nanobodies are the smallest known antigen-binding molecules to date. Their small size, good tissue penetration, high stability and solubility, ease of expression, refolding ability, and negligible immunogenicity in the human body have granted them excellence over conventional antibodies. Those exceptional attributes of nanobodies make them promising candidates for various applications in biotechnology, medicine, protein engineering, structural biology, food, and agriculture. This review presents an overview of their structure, development methods, advantages, possible challenges, and applications with special emphasis on infectious diseases-related ones. A showcase of how nanobodies can be harnessed for applications including neutralization of viruses and combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria is detailed. Overall, the impact of nanobodies in vaccine design, rapid diagnostics, and targeted therapies, besides exploring their role in deciphering microbial structures and virulence mechanisms are highlighted. Indeed, nanobodies are reshaping the future of infectious disease prevention and treatment.

Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Infections in the United Kingdom versus Egypt: Trends and Potential Natural Products Solutions.

Acinetobacter baumannii is a problematic pathogen of global concern. It causes multiple types of infection, especially among immunocompromised individuals in intensive care units. One of the most serious concerns related to this pathogen is its ability to become resistant to almost all the available antibiotics used in clinical practice. Moreover, it has a great tendency to spread this resistance at a very high rate, crossing borders and affecting healthcare settings across multiple economic levels. In this review, we trace back the reported incidences in the PubMed and the Web of Science databases of A. baumannii infections in both the United Kingdom and Egypt as two representative examples for countries of two different economic levels: high and low-middle income countries. Additionally, we compare the efforts made by researchers from both countries to find solutions to the lack of available treatments by looking into natural products reservoirs. A total of 113 studies reporting infection incidence were included, with most of them being conducted in Egypt, especially the recent ones. On the one hand, this pathogen was detected in the UK many years before it was reported in Egypt; on the other hand, the contribution of Egyptian researchers to identifying a solution using natural products is more notable than that of researchers in the UK. Tracing the prevalence of A. baumannii infections over the years showed that the infections are on the rise, especially in Egypt vs. the UK. Further concerns are linked to the spread of antibiotic resistance among the isolates collected from Egypt reaching very alarming levels. Studies conducted in the UK showed earlier inclusion of high-throughput technologies in the tracking and detection of A. baumannii and its resistance than those conducted in Egypt. Possible explanations for these variations are analyzed and discussed.

Antibiotic-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in Low-Income Countries (2000-2020): Twenty-One Years and Still below the Radar, Is It Not There or Can They Not Afford to Look for It?

Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging pathogen, and over the last three decades it has proven to be particularly difficult to treat by healthcare services. It is now regarded as a formidable infectious agent with a genetic setup for prompt development of resistance to most of the available antimicrobial agents. Yet, it is noticed that there is a gap in the literature covering this pathogen especially in countries with limited resources. In this review, we provide a comprehensive updated overview of the available data about A. baumannii, the multi-drug resistant (MDR) phenotype spread, carbapenem-resistance, and the associated genetic resistance determinants in low-income countries (LIICs) since the beginning of the 21st century. The coverage included three major databases; PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Only 52 studies were found to be relevant covering only 18 out of the 29 countries included in the LIC group. Studies about two countries, Syria and Ethiopia, contributed ~40% of the studies. Overall, the survey revealed a wide spread of MDR and alarming carbapenem-resistance profiles. Yet, the total number of studies is still very low compared to those reported about countries with larger economies. Accordingly, a discussion about possible reasons and recommendations to address the issue is presented. In conclusion, our analyses indicated that the reported studies of A. baumannii in the LICs is far below the expected numbers based on the prevailing circumstances in these countries. Lack of proper surveillance systems due to inadequate financial resources could be a major contributor to these findings.