ReviewClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2018
Understanding the Promises and Hurdles of Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing as a Diagnostic Tool for Infectious Diseases.
Review in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 506 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
506 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Comparative diagnostic accuracy of next-generation sequencing in different specimen types for periprosthetic joint infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2026Pooled it
- Diagnostic Performance of Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing (mNGS) and Culture in Infected Pancreatic Necrosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing for the Diagnosis of Infectious Uveitis: A Comprehensive Systematic Review.Viruses · 2025Pooled it
- Virus in infectious uveitis: bibliometric analysis and a clinical study.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the clinical and diagnostic value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing for urinary tract infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Microbial profiles in pediatric complicated appendicitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2026Review
- Amplification-Free Nanopore Sequencing for Herpesvirus DNA Detection in Intraocular Fluids.Ophthalmology science · 2026Article
- Clinical Research on Microecological Landscape for Infection Risk Stratification in Newly Diagnosed Patients with Hematological Conditions.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2026Article
- Redefining post-xenotransplantation surveillance: leveraging metagenomic next-generation sequencing to discriminate true pathogen replication from microchimerism-induced false positives.Clinical transplantation and research · 2026Review
- Metagenomic next-generation sequencing in the diagnosis of viral encephalitis.World journal of virology · 2026Review
- Epidemiology, Clinicopathological Features, Etiological Spectrum and Outcomes of Subcutaneous Mycoses: A 14-Year Retrospective Study.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Recurrent and niche-specific functional bacteriome of maize hybrid revealed by integrated metabarcoding and culturomics.Archives of microbiology · 2026Article
- Multiplex quantification of osteomyelitis pathogens based on bead array.Mikrochimica acta · 2026Article
- Analytical Performance and Clinical Evaluation of a Fully Automated Multiplex RT-qPCR Platform for Rapid Detection of Central Nervous System Pathogens.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Microbial signal profiles and organism-level concordance between plasma metagenomic sequencing and blood culture in suspected bloodstream infection.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Computed tomography-guided precision biopsy combined with metagenomic next-generation sequencing for etiological diagnosis in patients with blood culture-negative systemic infections.The Journal of international medical research · 2026Observational
- Application value and challenges associated with plasma cell-free DNA metagenomic sequencing technology in the diagnosis of infections in patients with hematological disorders.Blood science (Baltimore, Md.) · 2026Review
- Metagenomic next-generation sequencing for tuberculosis diagnosis: enhanced performance and cost-effectiveness.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Observational
- Occupational exposure to freshwater crustaceans as a route of paragonimiasis presenting with eosinophilic pleural effusion misdiagnosed as tuberculous pleurisy: A case report and literature review.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Article
- Clinical impact of metagenomic next-generation sequencing for pathogen identification and guided therapy in pediatric intensive care unit patients with severe pulmonary infections.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
446 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Agnostic metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) has emerged as a promising single, universal pathogen detection method for infectious disease diagnostics. This methodology allows for identification and genomic characterization of bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses without the need for a priori knowledge of a specific pathogen directly from clinical specimens. Although there are increasing reports of mNGS successes, several hurdles need to be addressed, such as differentiation of colonization from infection, extraneous sources of nucleic acid, method standardization, and data storage, protection, analysis, and interpretation. As more commercial and clinical microbiology laboratories develop mNGS assays, it is important for treating practitioners to understand both the power and limitations of this method as a diagnostic tool for infectious diseases.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.