pathogen that causes osteoarticular infections
High incidence rates of bone and joint (osteoarticular) infections are observed in human populations worldwide.Early and accurate identification of is crucial for achieving significant chemotherapy outcomes and minimising toxic side associated with empirical treatment strategies.Abscesses contain accumulated dead neutrophils and masses of dead and dying bacteria and thus can serve as test specimens to identify bone and joint infection-associated pathogens. However, due to low viability of intra-abscess bacteria, culture-based testing cannot be reliably used to detect only a few surviving bacteria within such specimens and thus cannot be used to rule out specific causes of infection. Nevertheless, PCR-based tests can detect dead pathogenic organisms and thus may be suitable for detecting pathogens in abscess specimens.Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) is one of the PCR-based pathogen detection methods, holds promise as an alternative to culture-based methods. In addition to its ability to detect nonviable microorganisms, mNGS testing has a short turnaround time of 2 days that enables rapid identification of pathogens to support early initiation of targeted treatments. Moreover, infectious disease clinicians routinely use mNGS to detect multiple types of clinical samples, such as blood, bronchoalveolar lavage and cerebrospinal fluid for pathogens.Indeed, due to its demonstrated effectiveness in previous comprehensive microbiological investigations, mNGS is now viewed as a viable option for diagnosing patients with suspected infections of unknown aetiology.