A prospective study of nanopore-targeted sequencing in the diagnosis of central nervous system infections.

This study aims to prospectively evaluate the ability of nanopore-targeted sequencing (NTS) in the detection of pathogens in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). It was the first time combining mNGS and microbial culture to verify the NTS-positive results also using 16S rDNA amplification with Sanger sequencing. Although microbial culture was thought to be the gold standard for pathogens detection and diagnosis of infectious diseases, this study suggested that microbial culture of CSF is not the most appropriate way for diagnosing central nervous system (CNS) infection. NTS should be recommended to be used in CSF for diagnosing CNS infection. When evaluating the value of NTS for diagnosis of CNS infections, the results of CSF TNC should be combined, and NTS-positive result is observed to be more reliable in patients with CSF TNC level >10 cells/μL.