Actionable diagnosis of neuroleptospirosis by next-generation sequencing

Michael R Wilson; Samia N Naccache; Erik Samayoa; Mark Biagtan; Hiba Bashir; Guixia Yu; Shahriar M Salamat; Sneha Somasekar; Scot Federman; Steve Miller; Robert Sokolic; Elizabeth Garabedian; Fabio Candotti; Rebecca H Buckley; Kurt D Reed; Teresa L Meyer; Christine M Seroogy; Renee Galloway; Sheryl L Henderson; James E Gern; Joseph L DeRisi; Charles Y Chiu

doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1401268

Actionable diagnosis of neuroleptospirosis by next-generation sequencing

N Engl J Med. 2014 Jun 19;370(25):2408-17. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1401268. Epub 2014 Jun 4.

Affiliation

¹ From the Departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics (M.R.W., J.L.D.), Neurology (M.R.W.), and Laboratory Medicine (S.N.N., E.S., G.Y., S.S., S.F., S.M., C.Y.C.), and the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases (C.Y.C.), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center (S.N.N., E.S., G.Y., S.S., S.F., S.M., C.Y.C.) - both in San Francisco; the Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Immunology (M.B., H.B., J.E.G.), and the Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (S.M.S., K.D.R.) and Pediatrics (T.L.M., C.M.S., S.L.H., J.E.G.), University of Wisconsin, Madison; the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (R.S., E.G., F.C.); the Departments of Pediatrics and Immunology, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Duke University, Durham, NC (R.H.B.); and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta (R.G.).

Abstract

A 14-year-old boy with severe combined immunodeficiency presented three times to a medical facility over a period of 4 months with fever and headache that progressed to hydrocephalus and status epilepticus necessitating a medically induced coma. Diagnostic workup including brain biopsy was unrevealing. Unbiased next-generation sequencing of the cerebrospinal fluid identified 475 of 3,063,784 sequence reads (0.016%) corresponding to leptospira infection. Clinical assays for leptospirosis were negative. Targeted antimicrobial agents were administered, and the patient was discharged home 32 days later with a status close to his premorbid condition. Polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) and serologic testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) subsequently confirmed evidence of Leptospira santarosai infection.

Publication types

Case Reports
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adenosine Deaminase / deficiency
Adolescent
Agammaglobulinemia / complications
Biopsy
Brain / pathology*
Cerebrospinal Fluid / microbiology*
DNA, Bacterial / analysis*
Fever / etiology
Headache / etiology
Humans
Leptospira / genetics*
Leptospira / isolation & purification
Leptospirosis / complications
Leptospirosis / diagnosis*
Leptospirosis / microbiology
Male
Meningoencephalitis / complications
Meningoencephalitis / diagnosis*
Meningoencephalitis / microbiology
Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods*
Severe Combined Immunodeficiency / complications

Actionable diagnosis of neuroleptospirosis by next-generation sequencing

Authors

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Abstract

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