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.