Gestational psittacosis resulting in neonatal death identified by next-generation RNA sequencing of postmortem, formalin-fixed lung tissue

Abstract

Psittacosis is a rare zoonosis that can cause severe disease and adverse outcomes during pregnancy. We identified a previously elusive case of psittacosis causing premature delivery and infant death by next-generation RNA sequencing of postmortem tissues. Hypothesis-free pathogen detection in postmortem specimens can increase the yield of epidemiologic and cause-of-death studies.