Modern Solutions for Ancient Pathogens: Direct Pathogen Sequencing for Diagnosis of Lepromatous Leprosy and Cerebral Coenurosis.
Bernadette C YoungStephen J BushSam LipworthSophie GeorgeKate E DingleNick SandersonAlice BrankinTimothy WalkerSrilakshmi SharmaJames LeongPuneet PlahaMonika HoferPeter ChiodiniB GottsteinLavinia FurrerDerrick CrookAndrew BrentPublished in: Open forum infectious diseases (2022)
Microbes unculturable in vitro remain diagnostically challenging, dependent historically on clinical findings, histology, or targeted molecular detection. We applied whole-genome sequencing directly from tissue to diagnose infections with mycobacteria (leprosy) and parasites (coenurosis). Direct pathogen DNA sequencing provides flexible solutions to diagnosis of difficult pathogens in diverse contexts.