Developed in research labs located in Emory University, UC-Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State, our conjugated imaging agents enable common medical scanners to image infection with high specificity and sensitivity, while distinguishing from benign inflammation. Our imaging agents target bacteria by utilizing a maltodextrin molecule as a carrier mechanism. Bacteria consume maltodextrin as a food source and unwittingly internalize the conjugated F18 imaging agent through a specific transport mechanism unique to this sugar. As mammalian cells do not express this transport mechanism this allows for the high degree of precision to accurate identify bacterial infections.