A groundbreaking seven-year study reveals how metagenomic sequencing offers a more accurate, comprehensive approach to diagnosing difficult CNS infections—spotting pathogens that traditional tests often overlook. Study: Seven-year performance of a clinical metagenomic next-generation sequencing test for diagnosis of central nervous system infections . Image Credit: Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock In a recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine , researchers analyzed the seven-year performance of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) testing to diagnose central nervous system (CNS) infections.
Encephalitis, meningitis, and myelitis associated with CNS infections can cause severe, life-threatening illnesses. Delays in their diagnosis and treatment have been linked to higher morbidity and mortality. Clinical mNGS has emerged as a comprehensive approach for diagnosing infectious diseases, allowing for the detection of diverse microbes without targeting a specific pathogen in advance.
This hypothesis-free and agnostic method could be useful in cases of CNS infections for which invasive methods like brain biopsy and limited cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples are challenging to obtain. The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) clinical mNGS test was developed as a validated DNA/RNA metagenomic sequencing assay in 2016. Previous studies have shown that mNGS can increase the diagnostic yield, providing actionable information in cases of suspected CNS infection.
