Viral diseases have emerged as a serious threat to humanity and as a leading cause of morbidity worldwide. Many viral diagnostic methods and antiviral therapies have been developed over time, but we are still a long way from treating certain infections caused by viruses. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is one of the challenges where current medical science advancements fall short. As a result, new diagnostic and treatment options are desperately needed. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has recently been proposed as a potential therapeutic approach for viral disease treatment. CRISPR/Cas9 is a specialised, effective, and adaptive gene-editing technique that can be used to modify, delete, or correct specific DNA sequences. It has evolved into an advanced, configurable nuclease-based single or multiple gene-editing tool with a wide range of applications. It is widely preferred simply because its operational procedures are simple, inexpensive, and extremely efficient. Exploration of infectious virus genomes is required for a comprehensive study of infectious viruses. Herein, we have discussed the historical timeline-based advancement of CRISPR, CRISPR/Cas9 as a gene-editing technology, the structure of CRISPR, and CRISPR as a diagnostic tool for studying emerging viral infections. Additionally, utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 technology to fight viral infections in plants, CRISPR-based diagnostics of viruses, pros, and cons, and bioethical issues of CRISPR/Cas9-based genomic modification are discussed.

Background: Coinfections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus usually fail to respond to antibiotic treatment, and combination therapy may prove to be a substantial approach to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Objectives: To evaluate the antimicrobial and antibiofilm effects of drugs against the sensitive as well as resistant strain co-cultures of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Methods: 52 clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa and 43 of S. aureus were studied. The planktonic and biofilm co-cultures of the resistant (PA-14 and PS-107) and sensitive (PA-27 and PS-100) biofilm-forming strains of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were determined for a specific set of drugs. Based on the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), and Minimum Biofilm Inhibitory Concentration (MBIC) data, the different drug combinations were shortlisted and tested against the co-cultures. Results: 33.3% of drug combinations showed synergy against resistant and 41.7% against sensitive strain planktonic co-culturesamong the shortlisted drug combinations. Furthermore, 8.3% were found to be effective against the biofilm co-cultures of resistant strains and 80% against sensitive strains. The drug combinations, although synergistic against the co-cultures, the pure cultures of P. aeruginosaand S. aureus were found to be susceptible to the participating drugs (colistin, linezolid, trimethoprim, nitrofurantoin, and vancomycin) in the initial studies. Conclusions: This, however, alleviates the synergistic effect of these drug combinations. In contrast, it demonstrates a significant reduction in the MICs (≥50%) compared to the MICs of these drugs against the pure cultures of bacteria, indicating the therapeutic benefits of adjusted doses of the combining drugs over monotherapy in treating these coinfections.