Download or read book Clinical metagenomics-based diagnostics for infectious diseases written by Sathyavathi Sundararaju and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2024-08-20 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clinical metagenomics is an emerging method in the diagnosis of infectious diseases that uses next generation sequencing (NGS) technology to identify the etiologic agents to allow for more effective and targeted treatment of infectious diseases. Conventional diagnostic methods are mainly based on basic morphologic, phenotypic and genotypic analyses which can be insensitive and/or time consuming. Metagenomic NGS (mNGS) can be performed with only a small amount of nucleic acid from the specimen and not only can the pathogen be identified and characterized, but also its antimicrobial susceptibility can be inferred. Although tremendous advancements were made in the speed, throughput, and cost of NGS in recent years, the application of clinical metagenomics in routine diagnosis of infectious diseases is not yet practical because of its much higher cost compared to conventional microbiological tests, complex laboratory workflows and computational challenges.