Application of metagenomic sequencing for pathogenic diagnosis in infectious diseases / 中华临床感染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Infectious disease is still one of the leading causes of death nowadays .More than half of pathogens causing infections are still unclear through conventional microbiological diagnostics in clinical laboratory.Recently, the metagenomic sequencing is being applied in the pathogenic diagnosis with full coverage, high efficiency and few bias.Though metagenomic sequencing has shown good performance in pathogenic diagnosis for respiratory tract infection , central nervous system infection and bloodstream infection, it still cannot replace the conventional microbiological tests ; however, this state-of-the-art tool should be considered as an effective supplement to pathogen diagnosis .This article reviews the current application of metagenomic sequencing in clinical scenarios and related pitfalls , with the aim of promoting better utilization of the tool.