Bacterial whole genome sequencing: The future of clinical bacteriology

Abstract

Corresponding Author: Dr. Shamsudin Aliyu, Department of Medical Microbiology, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. E-mail: shamsualiyu@gmail.com The genomic revolution promises to transform the practice of medicine, including the specialty of clinical microbiology. Clinical microbiology is the branch of medicine that is concerned with the laboratory diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases. Clinical microbiology helps to direct the management of infections in individual patients (diagnostic microbiology), and helps to monitor and control the spread of infectious diseases (public health microbiology). Ongoing developments in sequencing technology will have a huge impact on the way clinical microbiologist identify and characterize all pathogens, namely bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. However, because of the burden of infections caused by bacterial pathogens worldwide, this editorial focuses on the impact of whole genome sequencing (WGS) on clinical bacteriology.