Abstract
Dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever, and dengue shock syndrome (DF/DHF/DSS) are tropical diseases that cause significant humanitarian and economic hardship. It is estimated that more than 2.5 billion people are at risk of infection and more than 100 countries have endemic dengue virus transmission. Laboratory tests are essential to provide an accurate diagnosis of dengue virus infection so that appropriate treatment and patient management may be administered. In many dengue endemic settings, laboratory diagnostic resources are limited and simple rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) provide opportunities for point-of-care diagnosis. This paper addresses current issues relating to the application of commercial dengue RDTs for the diagnosis of acute dengue virus infection, recent diagnostic evaluations, and identifies future needs.
Highlights
Immunochromatographic tests for the detection of dengue virus nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) antigen, IgM, IgG, and IgA antibodies have been developed by a number of commercial companies and have found wide application because of their ease of use and rapidity of results
NS1 Ag and MAC ELISAs for the diagnosis of acute dengue infection using admission samples, and the results demonstrated considerable variation in sensitivity (49.8%–98.7%) but the specificities reported were more consistent with all being >90%
The Standard Diagnostics (SD) Bioline Dengue Duo rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) NS1 antigen detection strip was evaluated for acute dengue diagnosis in four studies (Table 3) with consistently high specificity estimates (96.7–100%) and sensitivities that ranged from 48.5% [19] to 65.4% [21] with the studies either using a combination of virus detection and serology [21, 39, 40] as comparators or serology alone [19]
Summary
Immunochromatographic tests for the detection of dengue virus nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) antigen, IgM, IgG, and IgA antibodies have been developed by a number of commercial companies and have found wide application because of their ease of use and rapidity of results. These dengue RDTs are presented in the form of a lateral flow cassette that allows the flow of sample in a horizontal plane or a wick-style test that is performed in a tube and draws sample vertically by capillary action. Guidelines for the evaluations of dengue diagnostic assays have recently been published [7] which is hoped will provide a framework for a uniform approach to diagnostic assessments
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
