Objective: To explore the value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in the etiology diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in children. Methods: The etiological results of 189 children diagnosed with "bacterial meningitis" or "purulent meningitis" or "central nervous system infection" in the Children's Hospital of Fudan University from 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. The cerebrospinal fluid (CFS) of the children with bacterial meningitis was detected by culture and mNGS respectively, and the difference of pathogen detection rate between the 2 methods was analyzed. According to the age at the time of visit, the children were divided into neonatal group (≤28 days of age) and non-neonatal group (>28 days of age), and χ2 test was used to compare the positive rate between the 2 groups. Taking CFS culture as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of mNGS in the diagnosing of bacterial meningitis in children were analyzed. Results: Among these 189 children with bacterial meningitis, 116 were males and 73 were females. A total of 76 strains of pathogens were detected in blood and (or) CSF cultures, of which 50 strains (65.8%) were Gram-positive bacteria; among those, 18 strains (23.7%) of Streptococcus agalactiae, 17 strains (19.7%) of Escherichia coli and 15 strains (19.7%) of Streptococcus pneumoniae were detected with higher detection rate. The infection rate of Gram-positive bacteria in the non-neonatal group was higher than that in the neonatal group (76.0% (38/50) vs. 50.0% (13/26), χ2=5.24, P=0.020).The same CSF samples of 48 cases were tested by mNGS and culture at the same time, and the detection rate of mNGS was higher than that of CSF culture (20 cases (41.7%) vs. 12 cases (25.0%), χ2=16.45, P<0.001). The consistency of mNGS and culture results was 79.2% (38/48), and the same pathogen was detected in 11 children with both positive mNGS and CSF culture. Taking the results of CSF culture as the gold standard, the sensitivity of mNGS in the diagnosing of bacterial meningitis was 91.7%, and the specificity was 75.0%. Conclusions: The mNGS technology can improve the pathogen detection rate of bacterial meningitis in children, and has a high consistency with CSF culture. In suspected cases where the pathogen cannot be identified by traditional methods, CSF mNGS should be considered timely.
目的： 探讨宏基因组二代测序技术在儿童细菌性脑膜炎病原诊断中的应用价值。 方法： 回顾性分析2019年1月1日至2020年12月31日复旦大学附属儿科医院住院诊断为“细菌性脑膜炎”或“化脓性脑膜炎”或“中枢神经系统感染”的189例患儿的病原学检测结果。分别采用培养和宏基因二代测序检测方法检测细菌性脑膜炎患儿的脑脊液，分析2种检测方法病原检出率的差异。根据就诊时患儿年龄分为新生儿组（≤28日龄）和非新生儿组（>28日龄），采用χ2检验进行组间比较。以脑脊液培养为金标准，分析宏基因组二代测序技术在儿童细菌性脑膜炎诊断中的灵敏度和特异度。 结果： 189例细菌性脑膜炎患儿中男116例、女73例。血和（或）脑脊液培养共检出76株病原菌，其中革兰阳性菌50株（65.8%），检出率较高的致病菌有无乳链球菌18株（23.7%）、大肠埃希菌17株（22.4%）、肺炎链球菌15株（19.7%）。非新生儿组革兰阳性菌感染率高于新生儿组［76.0%（38/50）比50.0%（13/26），χ2=5.24，P=0.020］。48例患儿脑脊液同时送检宏基因二代测序检测和培养，宏基因二代测序检测的病原检出率高于培养方法［20例（41.7%）比12例（25.0%），χ2=16.45，P<0.001］。脑脊液宏基因二代测序和培养检测结果的一致性为79.2%（38/48），其中同时阳性的11例患儿均检出同一种病原菌。以脑脊液培养结果为金标准，宏基因组二代测序技术在细菌性脑膜炎的诊断中的灵敏度为91.7%，特异度为75.0%。 结论： 宏基因组二代测序技术可提高儿童细菌性脑膜炎的病原检出率，且与脑脊液培养检出结果一致性较高。在诊断细菌性脑膜炎时，尤其在疑似诊断患儿中传统病原学无法明确病原时应尽早完善宏基因二代测序检测。.