Zhao Junhua, Xu Mingfeng, Tian Zheng, Wang Yu
Pediatrics Department, Xiantao Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Xiantao, China.
PeerJ. 2025 Jan 8;13:e18810. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18810. eCollection 2025.
The primary purpose of this study was to detect the pathogen species using targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) to investigate the characteristics of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)-related pathogens in children in Xiantao city, Hubei province, China.
A total of 1,527 children with CAP were prospectively recruited from our hospital between May 2022 and February 2023. Information on age and sex was collected from the medical records. Pathogen detection was performed using standard detection methods and tNGS.
The positive coincidence rate of standard detection methods and tNGS were 61.95% (946/1,527) and 97.05% (1,482/1,527), respectively. Among the 1,482 children with CAP, the numbers of bacteria, virus, chlamydia, and mycoplasma infection were 1,188, 975, 321, and 1, respectively. Co-existing species showed high prevalence in CAP, and the prevalence of children infected with only one pathogen was 20.31%. The numbers of children infected with two and three pathogens were the highest, accounting for 29.22% and 25.17%, respectively. Among the 44 pathogens detected using tNGS, 17 species of bacteria, 25 species of viruses, one species of chlamydia, and one species of mycoplasma were documented. Among all infectious pathogens, the top five were , , human herpes virus type 5 (HHV-5), and . The results showed that pathogenic infections in children with CAP were related to age but not to gender.
The infection pathogens in children with CAP were complex and the incidence of co-existence was observed to be high. The pathogens involved in CAP were closely related to the age of the child. In addition, tNGS was shown to better identify pathogens than the standard detection method, which is crucial for improving the accuracy of early CAP diagnosis and initiating appropriate treatment in a timely manner, ultimately enhancing treatment outcomes.
本研究的主要目的是使用靶向新一代测序（tNGS）检测病原体种类，以调查中国湖北省仙桃市儿童社区获得性肺炎（CAP）相关病原体的特征。
2022年5月至2023年2月期间，前瞻性地从我院招募了1527例CAP患儿。从病历中收集年龄和性别信息。使用标准检测方法和tNGS进行病原体检测。
标准检测方法与tNGS的阳性符合率分别为61.95%（946/1527）和97.05%（1482/1527）。在1482例CAP患儿中，细菌、病毒、衣原体和支原体感染的例数分别为1188、975、321和1。共存病原体在CAP中具有较高的患病率，仅感染一种病原体的患儿患病率为20.31%。感染两种和三种病原体的患儿数量最多，分别占29.22%和25.17%。使用tNGS检测到的44种病原体中，记录了17种细菌、25种病毒、1种衣原体和1种支原体。在所有感染性病原体中，排名前五的是 、 、人类疱疹病毒5型（HHV-5）和 。结果表明，CAP患儿的病原体感染与年龄有关，与性别无关。
CAP患儿的感染病原体复杂，共存发生率较高。CAP所涉及的病原体与患儿年龄密切相关。此外，tNGS在识别病原体方面比标准检测方法表现更好，这对于提高CAP早期诊断的准确性和及时启动适当治疗至关重要，最终可改善治疗效果。
