Microbial Circulating Cell-Free DNA—A Tool for Early Detection of Infection

Abstract

Early diagnosis of the infection is the major factor in reducing the morbidity and mortality. Traditional markers including the procalcitonin and C-reactive protein play a major role for the detection of bacterial infection. Advances in molecular biology revolutionized in early detection of infection. Recent studies found the profound application of detection of pathogen cell-free DNA through application of plasma next-generation sequencing for detection of infection with high sensitivity and specificity.

Keywords: infection, pathogen cell-free DNA, plasma next-generation sequencing
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