Advances in detecting category A biothreat agents: Toward symptom-driven sensing strategies

The rise of emerging technologies like synthetic biology and artificial intelligence has raised alarms about new forms of weaponized diseases, given their threat to life and societal economic burden. This underscores the critical role of developing sensor technologies for countermeasures. This review focuses on the latest biosensing platforms for Category A biothreat agents, summarizing their diagnostic targets and innovative methods for process optimization and signal amplification. We also examine the clinical progression and symptomatic characteristics associated with these agents. Our goal is to establish a systematic link between sensor technology and clinical application, ultimately supporting research on medical resource allocation for bioterrorism, epidemics, and public health.