Nick Vereecke from PathoSense BV in Belgium presented at London Calling 2023 on “Coninfection in endemic influenza A virus-infected herds using nanopore metagenomic sequencing of tracheobronchial swabs.” Vereecke spoke about the complexity of porcine respiratory diseases: there is a mix of coronaviruses and bacteria. For some of the microbes involved, there are no lab culture conditions. PCR, antigen, and culturing approaches are used to diagnose porcine respiratory diseases, but their cost and specificity/sensitivity varies. Antibiotic sensitivity testing is also challenging depending on the microbe involved. PathoSense uses nanopore sequencing and is able to detect differences in viral and bacterial diversity in different porcine age groups. Vereecke presented data from metagenomic analyses of porcine samples from 25 farms. There is also the challenge of porcine vaccination status that may complicate detection of some viruses, yet the PathoSense approach helps resolve vaccine strains. Most assays, Vereecke noted, require time and can be laborious. Metagenomics in diagnostics using PathoSense and Nanopore sequencing provides age-dependent community data, community statistics, and rich diversity data. I have watched other sessions about PathoSense and still want to learn more about the approach they use and how it may compare to MS-MALDI-TOF and quantitative approaches.
