Abstract | Infectious diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites are becoming a major health concern worldwide. Several serious diseases such as leishmaniasis, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus are caused by intracellular pathogens. Fatal systemic infection, e.g. invasive candidiasis, is caused by extracellular fungi. Delivery systems that can target these intracellular or extracellular pathogens can be effective in curing these diseases. Over the last 20 years, several nano-sized delivery systems have shown to be a potential tool for targeting drugs to the site of infection. There are many clinically used nanomedicines for the treatment of infectious diseases such as liposomes (e.g. AmBisome®) and protein-polymer conjugates (e.g. Intron® A). In addition numerous preclinical nano-delivery systems, e.g. polymeric nanoparticles, drug–polymer conjugates and complexes, dendrimers, lipid nanoparticles, cochleates and niosomes have been investigated for delivery of anti-infective agents. In this chapter, a description of these delivery systems, examples of infectious diseases and the rationale of using these delivery systems to treat certain infections will be discussed. |
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