Abstract:
Bacterial infections have always been, and still are, a major global healthcare problem. For accurate
treatment it is of utmost importance that the location(s), severity, type of bacteria, and therapeutic
response can be accurately staged. Similar to the recent successes in oncology, tracers specific for
molecular imaging of the disease may help advance the patient management. Chemical design and
bacterial targeting mechanisms are the basis for the specificity of such tracers. The aim of this review
is to provide a comprehensive overview of the molecular imaging tracers developed for optical and
nuclear identification of bacteria and bacterial infections. Hereby we envision that such tracers can be
used to diagnose infections and aid their clinical management. From these compounds we have set-out
to identify promising targeting mechanisms and select the most promising candidates for further
development.
