BOSTON — Delve Bio will present new real-world clinical experience at ASM Microbe 2026 showing that its Delve Detect test helped physicians diagnose complex central nervous system infections that conventional methods had not definitively identified.
The Boston-based company, a UCSF spinout focused on metagenomic next-generation sequencing for infectious diseases, said the cases demonstrate how Delve Detect can provide diagnostic clarity in challenging CNS infections, including cases involving prior antimicrobial exposure or atypical clinical presentations.
Across three cases, Delve Detect identified pathogens that standard diagnostic methods failed to clearly detect, helping physicians make treatment decisions, including the use of targeted antimicrobial therapy. The company said the findings support the use of metagenomic next-generation sequencing, or mNGS, in the diagnostic workup for complex neurological infections.
In one case involving a patient with traumatic intracranial findings and progressive respiratory decline, conventional microbiological testing did not identify an infectious cause. Delve Detect detected Pasteurella multocida, allowing physicians to begin targeted antimicrobial therapy and clarify the diagnosis in a complex neurological case.
The case will be presented June 6 in Poster 4448, “Elucidation of CNS Infection Following Traumatic Brain Injury.”
In another case, a pediatric patient with hydrocephalus and a ventriculoperitoneal shunt had persistent fever despite empiric therapy, followed by worsening headache, meningeal signs and concern for a shunt infection. Conventional testing was limited because the patient had already received antimicrobial treatment. Delve Detect identified Mycobacterium abscessus from a shunt cerebrospinal fluid sample, allowing the treating physician to start targeted anti-mycobacterial therapy more quickly and avoid a costly shunt revision, according to the company.
That case will be presented June 5 in Poster 3633, “Targeted Therapy Initiated Following Diagnosis of Shunt Infection.”
A third case involved a patient who developed neurological symptoms after influenza pneumonia and later experienced clinical deterioration, including severe headache, skull base osteomyelitis and ischemic stroke. Conventional diagnostics remained negative. Delve Detect identified Fusobacterium necrophorum despite prior antibiotic exposure, prompting physicians to expand antimicrobial coverage to include anaerobes and begin an extended treatment course tailored to the patient’s condition.
The case will be presented June 5 in Poster 4428, “Detection of a Fastidious Anaerobic Pathogen Despite Prior Antibiotics.”
Delve Bio said the cases highlight the limitations of conventional cerebrospinal fluid diagnostics in pretreated or atypical CNS infections. In each case, the company said Delve Detect provided clinically actionable results that supported targeted therapy selection, informed device management decisions and helped clarify infectious causes in complex neurological cases.
