Rapid Diagnosis of Mycobacterium marinum Infection by Next-Generation Sequencing: A Case Report

Fanfan Xing; Simon K F Lo; Yuanchao Ma; Jonathan Daniel Ip; Wan-Mui Chan; Meixun Zhou; Miaozi Gong; Susanna K P Lau; Patrick C Y Woo

doi:10.3389/fmed.2022.824122

Rapid Diagnosis of Mycobacterium marinum Infection by Next-Generation Sequencing: A Case Report

Front Med (Lausanne). 2022 Feb 4:9:824122. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.824122. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Fanfan Xing¹, Simon K F Lo¹, Yuanchao Ma², Jonathan Daniel Ip², Wan-Mui Chan², Meixun Zhou³, Miaozi Gong³, Susanna K P Lau², Patrick C Y Woo²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infection Control, The University of Hong Kong - Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
² Department of Microbiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ Department of Pathology, The University of Hong Kong - Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

We present the first report of histology- and culture-proven Mycobacterium marinum infection diagnosed by next-generation sequencing (NGS). It took <2 days to make a microbiological diagnosis using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies' MinION device, compared to 20 days for the mycobacterium to be isolated from the tissue biopsy. NGS is particularly useful for culture-negative and slow-growing microorganism infections, such as mycobacterial, fungal and partially treated pyogenic bacterial infections. Due to its low equipment cost, short turn-around-time and portable size, the Oxford Nanopore Technologies' MinION device is a useful platform for NGS in routine clinical microbiology laboratories.

Keywords: MinION; Mycobacterium marinum; Oxford Nanopore; next-generation sequencing; non-tuberculosis mycobacteria.

Publication types

Case Reports