Co-authored by Bio2Q researchers and published in the Journal of Infection, this study demonstrates that metagenomic sequencing serves as an effective diagnostic tool for febrile urinary tract infections (fUTIs) where conventional urine cultures fail to identify the causative pathogen due to prior antibiotic administration. By analyzing urine samples from patients with bloodstream-confirmed fUTIs, the researchers successfully identified pathogens with high precision, even in the vast majority of culture-negative cases. These findings establish a new complementary diagnostic approach for culture-negative urinary tract infections that were previously difficult to diagnose, highlighting its potential to advance precision antimicrobial therapy.

Affiliations

1　Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Medical Microbiology, Central Bacteriology and Serology Laboratory, Tergooi Medical Centre, Hilversum, Netherlands. Electronic address: v.a.janes@amsterdamumc.nl.
2　Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, OLVG, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
3　Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
4　Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Clinical Genetics, Core Facility Genomics, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
5　Department of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, Netherlands.
6　Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Global Health, Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD), Amsterdam, Netherlands.
7　Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Human Biology-Microbiome-Quantum Research Center (WPI-Bio2Q), Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.