Jordi Vila-Estapé, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain; Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain; School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Madrid. Spain
Arturo Martínez-Trejo, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain; School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Giulia Gatti, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences-DIMEC, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Natalia Roson-Calero, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain; School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Laia Fernandez-Barat, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Cellex Research Laboratories, CIBERES (Center for Net Biomedical Research Respiratory Diseases), Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain Respiratory Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pneumology, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain.
Antoni Torres, Pneumology Service, Hospital Clínic, Barcelna; Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain; Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona; CIBER de enfermedades respiratorias (Ciberes), Spain
Andrea Vergara-Gómez, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain; Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain; School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Madrid. Spain
The diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia and hospital-acquired pneumonia is based on clinical, radiological, and microbiological findings. Conventional methods are based on the culture of respiratory samples, including sputum, endotracheal aspirate, bronchoaspirate, and bronchoalveolar lavage, followed by strain identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing. The gold standard for microbiological diagnosis of pneumonia remains the culture-based methods. These take > 24 h to identify the bacteria and 48 h to provide antibacterial susceptibility. Culture is insensitive, only detecting a pathogen in 23-40% of patients with clinically diagnosed pneumonia and an even smaller proportion after the administration of antibiotics. The utilization of multiplex panels for the simultaneous detection and identification of respiratory pathogens, including the detection of resistant determinants, can streamline testing procedures and enhance both the sensitivity and speed of diagnosis compared to traditional. In this review, molecular testing is currently available, and the potential future applications of next-generation sequencing are developed.
