People’s Daily Health Client Wang Zhuo
On May 6, BGI announced that it will rapidly provide a comprehensive detection and screening program for children with acute hepatitis of unknown cause, using adenovirus and adenovirus F41 The nucleic acid detection kit can complete rapid screening within one hour, and further use PMseq® pathogen high-throughput sequencing to explore potential new pathogens for clinical cases with negative screening.
Adenovirus nucleic acid detection kit. BGI Genmap
Among the 169 cases reported by the World Health Organization on April 23, adenovirus was detected in at least 74 samples, of which 18 were sequenced and showed adenovirus F41 Therefore, adenovirus is highly suspected as a potential causative factor.
Xu Lei, head of BGI infection mid-flux R&D, introduced that adenovirus is one of the pathogens that cause viral diarrhea and respiratory tract infections in children, of which F41 is one of the main adenovirus types. This product uses fluorescent PCR to detect adenovirus F41 type in stool or blood samples.
“We have established a universal detection system and products for adenovirus in the process of developing multiple detection products for respiratory tract infection pathogens and multiple detection products for gastrointestinal infections in the early stage.” Xu Lei said, so BGI The gene has designed a specific detection system for the adenovirus F41 type, and combined with the universal type of adenovirus to form a rapid screening product for adenovirus of unknown hepatitis in children.
He also introduced that for more than half of the adenovirus screening negative samples in the reported cases, PMseq® can be further used to screen for new or unknown infections. PMseq® is based on the methodology of metagenomics, extracts nucleic acids from infected samples, uses the second-generation high-throughput sequencing platform to sequence the nucleic acids in the samples, and then compares and analyzes them through a dedicated microorganism database. Obtain species information of suspected pathogenic microorganisms, and provide comprehensive and in-depth report parameters to assist clinical diagnosis and treatment decisions.
According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, as of now, more than 230 similar cases have been reported in more than 20 countries and regions around the world. On the 6th, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced that 4 new cases of acute hepatitis in children of unknown cause were added in Japan. The Argentine Ministry of Health also issued a notice on the 5th local time, saying that in the past 5 days, 8 cases of unexplained childhood hepatitis have been found in Argentina. “This joint program can greatly improve the pathogen detection ability of acute hepatitis in children of unknown cause, and the accurate diagnosis of acute hepatitis infection in children of unknown cause.” Xu Lei said.