Rapid point–of–care diagnosis of chikungunya virus infection

Abstract

Objective To detect a rapid disease diagnosis for clinical management and preventive measures of chikungunya virus infection. Methods The utility of a point-of-care test that could be used in field and health care centers was investigated employing a commercially available diagnostic kit at a tertiary care, multidisciplinary hospital in the Indian capital metropolis during 2010. Results During the 2010 spurt of chikungunya cases in Delhi, India, the performance of the OnSite chikungunya IgM Combo Rapid Test kit (CTK Biotech, San Diego, USA) well matched with the chikungunya IgM capture ELISA kits (National Institute of Virology, Pune, India). The sensitivity and specificity of the rapid test in relation to the IgM capture ELISA were 0.71 (95% CI: 0.30 to 0.94) and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.46 to 2.10), respectively. The respective positive and negative predictive values were 1.0 (95% CI: 0.46 to 1.00) and 0.7 (95% CI: 0.30 to 0.94). Conclusions Commercial assay kits to detect chikungunya IgM antibody are essential in health care centers which lack facilities for cell culture or enzyme immunoassay. Hence, it should be possible for health centers even in poorer countries to use the OnSite Chikungunya IgM Combo Rapid Test kit as a matter of routine to early diagnosis and to initiate control measures for chikungunya.