Diagnosis of Neurological Infections in Pediatric Patients from Cell-Free DNA Specimens by Using Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing

• DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02530-22
• Publication Date: 2023-01-18T14:00:25Z
• Authors: Xia Li; Le Yang; Dongjing Li; Xuying Yang; Zhijing Wang; Mengyi Chen; Fang Wu; Xiangjun Dou; Mengmeng Niu; HongYan Qi; Ting Deng; Han Xia; Dong Wang
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; whole-cell DNA; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Microbiology; Communicable Diseases; QR1-502; 3. Good health; cell-free DNA; Cohort Studies; 03 medical and health sciences; mNGS; pediatric; Central Nervous System Infections; Viruses; neurological infections; Humans; Metagenomics; Child; Research Article; Retrospective Studies

Our study emphasized that cfDNA mNGS had overall superiority to conventional methods on causative pathogen detection in CNS-infected children, and it was even better than wcDNA mNGS. cfDNA mNGS detected a wide range of pathogens with a high total coincidence rate (67.5%) against clinical diagnosis. The best timing for cfDNA mNGS detection ranged from 1 to 6 days, rather than 0 days, after the start of empirical anti-infection therapy.