Next⁃generation sequencing technology in the diagnosis of five patients with human herpesvirus encephalitis/meningitis

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the value of next⁃generation sequencing (NGS) of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the diagnosis of human herpesvirus encephalitis/meningitis. Methods The clinical features, laboratory and imaging findings of 5 patients with highly suspected human herpesvirus encephalitis/ meningitis from January to September 2018 were retrospectively analyzed, and then the etiological sources were comprehensively analyzed combined with the results of NGS. Results All of the 5 patients had an acute onset, fever, headache and neck ankylosis. The CSF tests revealed a slight increased level of white blood cell count (74-260)×106/L. Among them, a total of 4-5406 nucleic acid sequences of human herpesvirus, including human herpesvirus typeⅠ(n=1), human herpesvirus typeⅢ(n=3) and human herpesvirus typeⅣ(n = 1) were detected by NGS, with the coverage varing from 0.08% to 81.01%. Conclusions NGS of CSF can assist the diagnosis of human herpesvirus encephalitis/meningitis, as well as viruses accurate classification, which is worth popularizing and applying in clinic. DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2020.07.014

Keywords

• encephalitis, viral
• meningitis, viral
• herpesviridae infections
• cerebrospinal fluid
• genetic testing