Modern Solutions for Ancient Pathogens: Direct Pathogen Sequencing for Diagnosis of Lepromatous Leprosy and Cerebral Coenurosis

Bernadette C Young; Stephen J Bush; Sam Lipworth; Sophie George; Kate E Dingle; Nick Sanderson; Alice Brankin; Timothy Walker; Srilakshmi Sharma; James Leong; Puneet Plaha; Monika Hofer; Peter Chiodini; B Gottstein; Lavinia Furrer; Derrick Crook; Andrew Brent

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofac428

Modern Solutions for Ancient Pathogens: Direct Pathogen Sequencing for Diagnosis of Lepromatous Leprosy and Cerebral Coenurosis

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022 Aug 23;9(9):ofac428. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac428. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Authors

Bernadette C Young^{1

2}, Stephen J Bush¹, Sam Lipworth¹, Sophie George¹, Kate E Dingle¹, Nick Sanderson¹, Alice Brankin¹, Timothy Walker³, Srilakshmi Sharma⁴, James Leong⁴, Puneet Plaha⁵, Monika Hofer⁶, Peter Chiodini⁷, B Gottstein⁸, Lavinia Furrer⁸, Derrick Crook^{1

2

9}, Andrew Brent^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Experimental Medicine Division, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom.
² Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom.
³ Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
⁴ Oxford Eye Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom.
⁵ Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Neuropathology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom.
⁷ Hospital of Tropical Diseases and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine London, London, United Kingdom.
⁸ Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁹ National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Microbes unculturable in vitro remain diagnostically challenging, dependent historically on clinical findings, histology, or targeted molecular detection. We applied whole-genome sequencing directly from tissue to diagnose infections with mycobacteria (leprosy) and parasites (coenurosis). Direct pathogen DNA sequencing provides flexible solutions to diagnosis of difficult pathogens in diverse contexts.

Keywords: Taenia; coenurosis; leprosy; mycobacteria; whole genome sequencing.

Abstract

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