Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Biomedical Engineering Letters https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-021-00206-8 REVIEW ARTICLE Micro/nanotechnology‑inspired rapid diagnosis of respiratory infectious diseases Setareh Homayoonnia 1  · Yoonjung Lee 1  · Daniyal Andalib 1  · Md Sazzadur Rahman 1  · Jaemyung Shin 2  · Keekyoung Kim 1,2  · Seonghwan Kim 1 Received: 28 June 2021 / Revised: 17 August 2021 / Accepted: 29 August 2021 © Korean Society of Medical and Biological Engineering 2021 Abstract Humans have sufered from a variety of infectious diseases since a long time ago, and now a new infectious disease called COVID-19 is prevalent worldwide. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to research of the efective methods of diagnosing respiratory infectious diseases, which are important to reduce infection rate and help the spread of diseases be controlled. The onset of COVID-19 has led to the further development of existing diagnostic methods such as polymerase chain reaction, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and loop-mediated isothermal amplifcation. Furthermore, this has contributed to the further development of micro/nanotechnology-based diagnostic methods, which have advantages of high-throughput testing, efectiveness in terms of cost and space, and portability compared to conventional diagno- sis methods. Micro/nanotechnology-based diagnostic methods can be largely classifed into (1) nanomaterials-based, (2) micromaterials-based, and (3) micro/nanodevice-based. This review paper describes how micro/nanotechnologies have been exploited to diagnose respiratory infectious diseases in each section. The research and development of micro/nanotechnology- based diagnostics should be further explored and advanced as new infectious diseases continue to emerge. Only a handful of micro/nanotechnology-based diagnostic methods has been commercialized so far and there still are opportunities to explore. Keywords Respiratory infectious diseases · Micro/nanotechnology-based diagnostic methods · Nanomaterials · Micromaterials · Micro/nanodevices 1 Introduction Infectious diseases are diseases infected by microorganisms, such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi, that can enter the human body [1]. Humans have sufered from multiple infectious dis- eases in the long history of humankind. The world is currently facing a tragic past again due to the COVID-19 pandemic and tries to overcome it. The importance of research on diagnos- ing respiratory infectious diseases has become more critical these days, especially with the onset of COVID-19. Respira- tory infectious diseases usually result in symptoms related to the respiratory system, such as coughing or pneumonia. There have been several widespread infectious respiratory diseases in the past, but many historians have ofcially recognized the spread of infuenza that spread from Africa to Europe in 1510 for the frst time [2, 3]. In 1580, the expansion of infuenza caused the frst severe worldwide epidemic, which begun in Asia and spread to Africa, Europe, and America. As a result, many countries in Europe sufered for six weeks, with 9000 deaths in Rome alone [4]. Infuenza pandemic has continued since 1580, but especially Spanish fu infected by infuenza A (H1N1) virus from 1918 to 1920 was one of the most disas- trous infuenza diseases in medical history [5]. The number of people infected with Spanish fu was estimated at approxi- mately 500 million worldwide, with deaths of about 50 to 100 million people, even more than deaths of World War I [6]. In 1968, the new infuenza A (H3N2) virus started the infuenza Setareh Homayoonnia and Yoonjung Lee have contributed equally to this work. * Keekyoung Kim keekyoung.kim@ucalgary.ca * Seonghwan Kim sskim@ucalgary.ca 1 Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada 2 Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada