Nanotechnology in Protozoan Livestock Disease Diagnosis

Livestock plays a major role in increasing food security, rural livelihood, and developing countries’ economies. It also significantly impacts the “One Health” perspective. However, livestock faces severe threats due to various microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoan pathogens. Babesiosis, theileriosis, anaplasmosis, trypanosomosis, coccidiosis, leucocytozoonosis, toxoplasmosis, sarcocystis, trichomonosis, etc. are some of the examples of protozoan parasitic diseases of animals. Diagnosis of these diseases through the conventional methods such as microscopy, serological tests, conventional PCR, and ELISA is time-consuming, resource-intensive, and often results in low sensitivity and specificity. Nanotechnology proposes various ways in overcoming these challenges. It is very helpful in diagnosing diseases rapidly, cost-effectively and also with enhanced sensitivity. Various nanoparticles (NPs) have already been employed in the development of sensitive biosensors and bioimaging systems for animal-side diagnosis. The prominent sensor types include but not limited to lateral flow biosensors, electrochemical biosensors, genosensors, aptasensors, and various immunosensors which have lower detection limit compared to conventional methods. PCR-based assays using NPs increase sensitivity of detection compared to conventional PCR. Similarly, the nano-ELISA showed more sensitivity and specificity as compared to the conventional ELISA. The application of NPs in diagnostic methods such as immune-based assays and nucleic acid amplification-based assays are more advantageous in terms of cost, speed, and sensitivity. Here the current chapter discusses the application of NPs in various state-of-the art modalities for the diagnosis of protozoan diseases of livestock along with their prominent recompense.