The world is in the midst of a pre-emptive public health emergency, one that is just as dramatic as the global aggressive viruses-related crises (Ebola, Zika, or SARS), but not as visible. The "superbugs" and their antimicrobial resistance do not cause much public alarm or awareness, but provoke financial losses of $100 trillion annually (WHO, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/commentaries/superbugs-action-now/en/ ). This status quo review offers an overview of ultrasensitive methods for high-throughput monitoring of bacteria during infection treatment, the effects of antibiotics on bacteria at single-cell level and the challenges we will face in their detection due to the extraordinary capability of these "superbugs" to gain and constantly improve multiresistance to antibiotics. A special emphasis is put on the ultrasensitive spectroscopic-based analysis techniques, using nanotechnology or not necessarily, that are more and more promising alternatives to conventional culture-based ones. The particular case of Mycobacteria detection is discussed based on recent reported work.
Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; high-throughput monitoring; mycobacteria; ultrasensitive spectroscopy.