Scanning electron micrograph of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, brown) surrounded by cellular debrisNIAID/NIHWhen an infectious outbreak occurs, hospital investigators combine epidemiological data with bacterial typing to trace the source and path of the pathogen in the hopes of preventing further infections. Current methods are slow and offer limited resolution, meaning they can’t always differentiate between strains originating from the same bacterial clone. But by dramatically increasing the speed and accuracy of strain discrimination, a new generation of rapid, low-cost whole-genome sequencing (WGS) technologies promises to revolutionize outbreak surveillance and investigation.
With full genome sequences, researchers can spot the mutations that accumulate every time a bacterium divides down to the single nucleotide level. This allows them to track the evolution and movement of microbes with unprecedented precision, potentially leading to life-saving interventions and improved infection control strategies.
“I expect whole-genome sequencing will be transformative, in particular in outbreak investigations, within the next few years,” said Kathryn Holt, a microbiologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia. “The key advance is the dramatic increase in resolution, which enables us to be much surer about transmission pathways.”
Genomic detectives
Two studies from this year demonstrate the power of this approach. In 2011, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, experienced an outbreak of a ...
