ABSTRACT
Objective:To assess the clinical value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of cerebrospinal fluid in pathogenic diagnosis of neurological infectious disease.Methods:Patients who were clinically diagnosed with infectious encephalitis and meningitis and treated in Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng University from March 2018 to September 2019 were retrospectively analyzed, including the clinical characteristics and data of mNGS and traditional laboratory test of pathogens.Results:Totally 104 patients with infectious encephalitis and meningitis were eligible for enrollment, and mNGS detected 22 bacterial species(22/104,21.15%), 24 viral species (24/104,23.08%), one fungal species (1/104,0.96%), one parasitic species (1/104,0.96%) and one mycoplasma species (1/104,0.96%).The three leading positive detections were varicella-zoster virus ( n=19), streptococcus ( n=7) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( n=4). Combined with traditional pathogen detection methods, clinical manifestations, final diagnosis and treatment results, the number of cases diagnosed by mNGS was 49 cases. The positive rate of the mNGS was 47.12% (49/104).False positives occurred in 21 (20.19%) patients. False negatives occurred in 34 (32.69%) patients. Conclusions:mNGS is more sensitive in evaluating the pathogens causing the infectious encephalitis and meningitis. It has advantages in accurate diagnosis of infectious encephalitis and meningitis.