Abstract
BackgroundDengue virus (DENV) is the most important arbovirus worldwide, causing infections in endemic countries and returning travellers from these areas. Rapid diagnostic tests are needed to improve patient management and monitor local transmission. The detection of DENV non-structural protein 1 (NS1) is a useful tool for the diagnosis, but the currently available methods can be time consuming or lack sensitivity. The objective of our study was to evaluate a new rapid and semi-quantitative microfluidic DENV NS1 immuno-magnetic agglutination assay based on aggregation of magnetic nanoparticles detected by an electronic reader (Virotrack Dengue Acute and Blubox, Blusense diagnostics, Copenhagen, Denmark).Methodology/Principal findingsA panel of 135 serum samples from travelers returning from dengue endemic countries was analyzed (74 DENV positive samples including the four DENV serotypes, 26 Zika virus positive samples, 25 chikungunya virus positive samples, 5 malaria positive samples and 5 negative samples). Samples were tested by three different antigen detection methods: SD Dengue NS1 Ag ELISA, SD BIOLINE Dengue Duo and ViroTrack Dengue Acute. The sensitivity observed for SD Dengue NS1 Ag ELISA, ViroTrack Dengue Acute and SD BIOLINE Dengue Duo was 97.2%, 91.1% and 68.1%, respectively. All methods showed high specificity (98.4% for ViroTrack Dengue Acute and 100% for both SD Dengue NS1 Ag ELISA and SD BIOLINE Dengue Duo). SD Dengue NS1 Ag ELISA and ViroTrack Dengue Acute only failed to detect samples positive for DENV-2.Conclusions/SignificanceViroTrack Dengue Acute is a sensitive and specific assay for DENV NS1 detection. It provides faster results than the ELISA method and a better performance than the rapid immunochromatographic tests. ViroTrack Dengue Acute could represent a valuable tool for rapid diagnosis of DENV infections in returning travellers from endemic countries.
Highlights
Dengue virus (DENV) is mainly transmitted by the bites of infected Aedes mosquitoes, and there are four different serotypes of the virus (DENV1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4)
The objective of our study was to evaluate a new rapid and semi-quantitative microfluidic DENV non-structural protein 1 (NS1) immuno-magnetic agglutination assay based on aggregation of magnetic nanoparticles detected by an electronic reader (Virotrack Dengue Acute and Blubox, Blusense diagnostics, Copenhagen, Denmark)
All 135 serum samples were tested by ViroTrack Dengue Acute, 133 samples by SD Dengue NS1 Ag enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and 130 samples by SD BIOLINE Dengue Duo kit
Summary
Dengue virus (DENV) (genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae) is mainly transmitted by the bites of infected Aedes mosquitoes, and there are four different serotypes of the virus (DENV1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4). DENV infection has a large spectrum of clinical manifestations; from asymptomatic infections to a febrile illness (dengue fever) and in a minority of cases a severe life-threatening disease [3]. Most of the cases of DENV infection occur in endemic countries. In a surveillance study in returning travelers from 2007 to 2011, DENV infection accounted for 15% of the etiologies of febrile illness[6]. Dengue virus (DENV) is the most important arbovirus worldwide, causing infections in endemic countries and returning travellers from these areas. The objective of our study was to evaluate a new rapid and semi-quantitative microfluidic DENV NS1 immuno-magnetic agglutination assay based on aggregation of magnetic nanoparticles detected by an electronic reader (Virotrack Dengue Acute and Blubox, Blusense diagnostics, Copenhagen, Denmark)
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