Evaluation of efficacy of various immunochromatographic rapid tests for dengue diagnosis

Abstract

Objective: The immunochromatographic rapid tests facilitate the early diagnosis of dengue by providing evidence of the presence of virus specific proteins (antigens/ antibody) in human blood. Many products for rapid dengue diagnosis are available in the market; the performance of few selected products was evaluated and compared with enzyme linked immuno sorbent assays (ELISA).

Methods: Sera from a large number of patients (n=184) admitted to National Institute of Blood Diseases & Bone Marrow Transplantation (NIBD) were used to determine the efficiency of non-structural (NS) 1, IgA, IgG and IgM based rapid test devices for dengue diagnosis.

Results: The dengue NS1 antigen based device was least efficient while among the antibody based devices the dengue IgA rapid test (RDT) was comparatively better (specificity: 80.95%; sensitivity: 85.21%). This device could detect both primary and secondary dengue infection and was found to be the most sensitive device at all point of sample collection.

Conclusion: The dengue IgA RDT could be a cost effective and efficient rapid test device for timely dengue diagnosis at all levels of healthcare settings.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.12669/pjms.301.4173

How to cite this:Naz A, Zahid D, Murky SN, Nadeem M, Sil BK, Shamsi TS. Evaluation of efficacy of various immunochromatographic rapid tests for dengue diagnosis. Pak J Med Sci 2014;30(1):166-171.   doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.12669/pjms.301.4173

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