Performance of mNGS from three types of samples for the
identification of pathogens.
(Table 1 and Figure 2) For bacterial infections, the difference in
sensitivity of mNGS between TBLB, BALF, BB, and the combined mNGS of the
three types of specimens was not statistically significant. For fungal
infections and general infections, the three (mNGS of TBLB, mNGS of BALF
and mNGS of BB) were compared in pairs, the difference in their
sensitivity was not statistically significant. While the sensitivity of
the combined mNGS was significantly higher than that of the mNGS of
TBLB. mNGS of TBLB had the highest specificity, followed by mNGS of BB,
while mNGS of BALF had the lowest specificity. However, this study did
not make a statistical comparison of specificity differences because
there were fewer non-infected cases, and the results of statistical
analysis of specificity would be less reliable. If both sensitivity and
specificity are taken into consideration, mNGS of BB has advantages over
mNGS of TBLB and mNGS of BALF.