RNA metagenomic screening for pathogen identification in a national-wide brazilian cohort of patients with acute hepatitis. human blood metagenome

Acute viral hepatitis (AVH) remains a significant global health concern, contributing substantially to morbidity and mortality. Timely identification of the causative agent and appropriate management are imperative to mitigate these adverse outcomes. Hepatic inflammation can emerge due to a multitude of etiologies, prominently attributed to hepatotropic viruses, including hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis D virus (HDV), and hepatitis E virus (HEV), which stand as the prevailing causative agents. Current diagnostic approaches for hepatitis viruses rely on serological tests or PCR-based techniques, but they may occasionally yield inconclusive results. In this study, we investigated patients with acute hepatitis, enrolling them in a prospective, multicenter research effort that employed mNGS to detect the viral genome (virome).