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Infections of the central nervous system (CNS) are potentially life-threatening and can cause serious morbidity. We evaluated the clinical value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in the diagnosis of infectious encephalitis and meningitis and explored the factors affecting the results of mNGS. Patients with suspected cases of encephalitis or meningitis who presented in Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital from 1 March 2018 to 30 September 2022 were collected. Demographic, historical, and clinical information were obtained, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were treated with mNGS. The pathogen was identified using National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank sequence data. Ninety-six patients were screened and finally 90 subjects enrolled. Of the 90 enrolled cases, 67 (74.4%) were diagnosed with central nervous system infections, which included 48 cases (71.6%) of viral infection, 11 (12.2%) of bacterial infection, 5 (7.5%) of mycobacterium tuberculosis, 2 (3.0%) of fungal infection, and 1 (1.5%) of rickettsia infection. From these cases, mNGS identified 40 (44.4%) true-positive cases, 3 (3.3%) false-positive case, 22 (24.4%) true-negative cases, and 25 (27.8%) false-negative cases. The sensitivity and specificity of mNGS were 61.5% and 88%, respectively. mNGS of CSF could show a higher positive rate in patients with marked CSF abnormalities, including elevated protein concentrations and monocyte counts. mNGS of CSF is an effective method for detecting infectious encephalitis and meningitis, and the results should be analyzed combined with conventional microbiological testing results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aseptic meningitis caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV) reactivation was less described in the literature, most of which were detected by means of polymerase chain reaction. The authors presented 4 adult immunocompetent patients with acute aseptic meningitis with VZV infection diagnosed by next-generation sequencing (NGS).Case Presentation: Four patients were admitted to the hospital with headache and fever between March 2018 and August 2019. The median ages were 37 years (range 22-52 years). The median symptoms onset to clinic time was 3.5 days (range 3-6 days). Two patients had signs of meningeal irritation. Rash occurred after the meningitis symptoms in 1 patient (time from meningitis symptoms to rash, 2 days). No other sign or symptom was reported. The brain Magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography were normal in all patients. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were obtained at a median of 4 days (range 3-7 days) from the meningitis symptoms onset. Opening pressure of lumbar puncture after admission were high in these cases (median 256 mm H2O; range 165-400 mm H2O). White blood cell counts and protein levels were significantly elevated in CSF samples (median 317 × 10^6/L, range 147-478 × 10^6/L; median 1.41 g/L, range 0.57-1.79 g/L). The cytology of CSF demonstrated a lymphocytic pleocytosis, and most multinuclear cells. The culture of CSF was negative for all 4 cases, while T-cell spot test was positive for 2 cases, who were administrated with anti-tuberculosis treatment for suspicious tuberculous meningitis. NGS of CSF (the Vision Medical Research Institute) detected specific sequences of VZV in the 4 cases within 72 h after admission. The inappropriate treatment were stopped while acyclovir were continued intravenously for 10-14 days. All patients recovered completely.Conclusions: VZV is an infectious agent that causes aseptic meningitis in immunocompetent adults and could not be accompanied by skin manifestations. The NGS of CSF is a rapid detection for the identification and differentiation of meningitis in patients, which is of great importance for providing the rapid and accurate diagnosis and the targeted antimicrobial therapy for central nervous system infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]