Fig. 1.

Cumulative number of publications using microfluidic for the study and diagnosis of various infectious diseases (from 2005 to 2015). There were only 3 publications on SARS around 2002–2004 where there was SARS outbreak in Asian-Pacific countries. The infectious diseases that experience a steady rise in number of publications were HIV/AIDS and sepsis which affect both developing and developed nations equally. On the other hand, the number of publications in malaria and tuberculosis is stagnating despite the continued need for better diagnostic tools for resource-scarce communities. This shows that diseases prevalent in developing nations are still very much neglected by the scientific community that is concentrated in developed nations. Regrettably, many of the publications in dengue were also from groups in Latin America and South-East Asia, once again highlighting the lack of international interest in these infectious diseases. Note: Publication numbers were calculated using PubMed and ScienceDirect.