Metagenomics as New Tool for Diagnosis of Scrub Typhus: Two Case Reports

Int Med Case Rep J. 2023 Sep 27:16:617-622. doi: 10.2147/IMCRJ.S431864. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Scrub typhus is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. Accurate and timely diagnosis at the early infection stage could save the patients' lives. Traditional technologies were limited to rapidly and successfully detecting Orientia tsutsugamushi due to poor specificity, especially in the condition of atypical symptoms. The technology of Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) is amenable to finding the real pathogen because it holds potential as a diagnostic platform for unbiased pathogen identification and precision medicine. Herein, we reported two clinical case reports relative to the Orientia tsutsugamushi infection diagnosed by mNGS. We hope these two cases will improve clinical diagnosis.

Keywords: Orientia tsutsugamushi; metagenomic next-generation sequencing; scrub typhus.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Research Foundation for Advanced Talents of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (KY012023289) and the Key R & D Program of Jiangsu Province (BE2020646).