ArticleBMC pediatrics2025
Clinical diagnostic value of throat swabs in pediatric acute lower respiratory tract infections using targeted next-generation sequencing.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Association of doxycycline treatment with time to first documented MP-RNA negative conversion in pediatric Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Serum IL-6, IL-8, and Th/Ts ratio for severity assessment and short-term clinical outcome risk stratification in pediatric Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia: insights into inflammation-immune imbalance.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Early targeted next-generation sequencing accelerates clinical recovery in children with community-acquired pneumonia: A retrospective study.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- A Clinical Prediction Model for Bacterial Coinfection in Children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection: A Development and Validation Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Targeted next-generation sequencing analysis of pathogens and microecology in pediatric lower respiratory tract infections identifies risk factors for severe community-acquired pneumonia.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Application value of next generation sequencing technology for pathogen detection in patients with pulmonary infection and lung cancer.American journal of cancer research · 2026Article
- Clinical score for early escalation in pediatric A2063G Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Targeted next-generation sequencing characterization of respiratory pathogens in children with acute respiratory infection.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- tNGS-based detection of respiratory pathogens in a single center: associations with age, gender, season, and co-infections.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- Development and validation of a CD4+/CD8+ ratio-based nomogram to predict plastic bronchitis in pediatricFrontiers in pediatrics · 2025Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundTo evaluate the clinical utility of targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) for pathogen detection of pediatric acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTIs), with a particular focus on the use of throat swab samples.
methodsIn this diagnostic accuracy study involving 132 children, throat swabs and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples were collected and analyzed by tNGS, and the results were compared with those obtained from conventional diagnostic methods. The impact of prior antibiotic use on the detection rate of tNGS was evaluated, the consistency between throat swabs and BALF was assessed, and the economic cost and invasiveness of the sampling methods were examined.
resultsThis study enrolled 132 children, of whom 79 (60%) were boys and 53 (40%) were girls. Ninety-two (70%) of the patients had fever, and 128 (97%) had a cough. The detection rates of bacteria, viruses, and atypical pathogens in BALF samples by tNGS were 89.5% (n = 68), 98.2% (n = 108), and 77.8% (n = 63), respectively. Compared to traditional detection methods, tNGS showed significantly higher detection rates for bacteria and viruses (P < 0.001), but there was no statistically significant difference in the detection of atypical pathogens (P = 0.59). The use of antibiotics had no significant effect on bacterial detection by tNGS (P = 0.237). Using BALF-tNGS as the "gold standard," the sensitivities of tNGS of throat swabs for detecting bacteria, viruses, and atypical pathogens were 95.83%, 88.16%, and 92.06%, respectively, with specificities of 55.95%, 83.93%, and 100%. In the analysis of economic costs and invasiveness, the cost of throat swab sampling was significantly lower than that of BALF sampling, and the associated pain score and complication rate were significantly lower (P < 0.05).
conclusionstNGS with throat swabs offers higher sensitivity and specificity than traditional methods for diagnosing pediatric ALRTIs. As such, it offers a less invasive, more cost-effective alternative to BALF sampling.
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