Metagenomics in the Diagnosis of Pneumonia: Protocol for a Systematic Review.

Background: Causative pathogens are currently identified in only a minority of pneumonia cases, which affects antimicrobial stewardship. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) has potential to enhance pathogen detection due to its sensitivity and broad applicability. However, while studies have shown improved sensitivity compared with conventional microbiological methods for pneumonia diagnosis, it remains unclear whether this can translate into clinical benefit.

Practices to prevent non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia: a narrative review.

Nosocomial infection has significant consequences in health care, both at the individual level due to increased morbidity and mortality, and at the organizational level due to increased costs. Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is the most common nosocomial infection, and is associated with high excess mortality, frequent use of broad-spectrum antimicrobials and increased length of stay. This review explores the preventative strategies that have been examined in non-ventilator HAP (NV-HAP).

Clinical challenge of diagnosing non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia and identifying causative pathogens: a narrative review.

Non-ventilated hospital-acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) is associated with a significant healthcare burden, arising from high incidence and associated morbidity and mortality. However, accurate identification of cases remains challenging. At present, there is no gold-standard test for the diagnosis of NV-HAP, requiring instead the blending of non-specific signs and investigations.

Towards personalised anti-microbial and immune approaches to infections in acute care. Can real-time genomic-informed diagnosis of pathogens, and immune-focused therapies improve outcomes for patients? An observational, experimental study protocol.

Introduction: Infection causes a vast burden of disease, with significant mortality, morbidity and costs to health-care systems. However, identifying the pathogen causative infection can be challenging, resulting in high use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, much of which may be inappropriate. Novel metagenomic methods have potential to rapidly identify pathogens, however their clinical utility for many infections is currently unclear.