Streptococcus suis meningoencephalitis diagnosed with metagenomic next-generation sequencing: A case report with literature review

Streptococcus suis is a pathogen of emerging zoonotic diseases and meningoencephalitis is the most frequent clinical symptom of S. suis infection in humans. Rapid diagnosis of S. suis meningoencephalitis is critical for the treatment of the disease. While the current routine microbiological tests including bacterial culture and gram staining are poorly sensitive, diagnosis of S. suis meningoencephalitis by metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) has been rarely reported. Here, we report a 52-year-old female pork food producer with a broken finger developed S. suis meningoencephalitis. After her admission, no pathogenic bacteria were detected through bacterial culture and Gram staining microscopy in the cerebrospinal fluid obtained via lumbar puncture. However, mNGS identified the presence of S. suis in the sample. mNGS is a promising diagnostic tool for rapid diagnosis of rare infectious diseases in the central nervous system.