Bob
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Use of Staged Molecular Analysis to Determine Causes of Unexplained Central Nervous System Infections
Chien-Chin Hsu, Rafal Tokarz, Thomas Briese, Hung-Chin Tsai, Phenix-Lan Quan, and W. Ian Lipkin
September 2013
Emerg Infect Dis
DOI: 10.3201/eid1909.130474
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/9/13-0474_article.htm
This seems to be a collaboration between the CDC, Lipin and colleagues of Lipkin.
About lead author, Chien-Chin Hsu, the paper says:
> Dr Hsu is a physician-scientist at Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan. A recent graduate of the doctoral program in epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, he is dedicated to advancing infection control in Taiwan through the introduction of molecular diagnostics.
I thought perhaps it might give some clues to some of the technology that Likpin & Hornig are using in the CFS study.
They Investigated cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with central nervous system (CNS) infections of unknown cause in 1 hospital in Taiwan:
"We determined the infectious agent for 31 (24%) of 131 previously negative samples."
Abstract
No agent is implicated in most central nervous system (CNS) infections. To investigate cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with CNS infections of unknown cause in 1 hospital in Taiwan, we used a staged molecular approach, incorporating techniques including multiplex MassTag PCR, 16S rRNA PCR, DNA microarray, and high-throughput pyrosequencing. We determined the infectious agent for 31 (24%) of 131 previously negative samples. Candidate pathogens were identified for 25 (27%) of 94 unexplained meningitis cases and 6 (16%) of 37 unexplained encephalitis cases. Epstein-Barr virus (18 infections) accounted for most of the identified agents in unexplained meningitis cases, followed by Escherichia coli (5), enterovirus (2), human herpesvirus 2 (1), and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Herpesviruses were identified in samples from patients with unexplained encephalitis cases, including varicella-zoster virus (3 infections), human herpesvirus 1 (2), and cytomegalovirus (1). Our study confirms the power of multiplex MassTag PCR as a rapid diagnostic tool for identifying pathogens causing unexplained CNS infections.
(The text that I've bolded seems relevant to CFS/ME.)
Chien-Chin Hsu, Rafal Tokarz, Thomas Briese, Hung-Chin Tsai, Phenix-Lan Quan, and W. Ian Lipkin
September 2013
Emerg Infect Dis
DOI: 10.3201/eid1909.130474
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/9/13-0474_article.htm
This seems to be a collaboration between the CDC, Lipin and colleagues of Lipkin.
About lead author, Chien-Chin Hsu, the paper says:
> Dr Hsu is a physician-scientist at Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan. A recent graduate of the doctoral program in epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, he is dedicated to advancing infection control in Taiwan through the introduction of molecular diagnostics.
I thought perhaps it might give some clues to some of the technology that Likpin & Hornig are using in the CFS study.
They Investigated cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with central nervous system (CNS) infections of unknown cause in 1 hospital in Taiwan:
"We determined the infectious agent for 31 (24%) of 131 previously negative samples."
Abstract
No agent is implicated in most central nervous system (CNS) infections. To investigate cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with CNS infections of unknown cause in 1 hospital in Taiwan, we used a staged molecular approach, incorporating techniques including multiplex MassTag PCR, 16S rRNA PCR, DNA microarray, and high-throughput pyrosequencing. We determined the infectious agent for 31 (24%) of 131 previously negative samples. Candidate pathogens were identified for 25 (27%) of 94 unexplained meningitis cases and 6 (16%) of 37 unexplained encephalitis cases. Epstein-Barr virus (18 infections) accounted for most of the identified agents in unexplained meningitis cases, followed by Escherichia coli (5), enterovirus (2), human herpesvirus 2 (1), and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Herpesviruses were identified in samples from patients with unexplained encephalitis cases, including varicella-zoster virus (3 infections), human herpesvirus 1 (2), and cytomegalovirus (1). Our study confirms the power of multiplex MassTag PCR as a rapid diagnostic tool for identifying pathogens causing unexplained CNS infections.
(The text that I've bolded seems relevant to CFS/ME.)