Diagnosis of dengue virus infection by the visual and simple AuBioDOT immunoglobulin M capture system

The Dengue IgM Capture ELISA (MAC-ELISA) is the immunoenzymatic system recommended by the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization for the serological diagnosis of dengue virus infection due to its high sensitivity, ease of performance, and use of a single acute-phase serum sample. However, tests with this enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system are time-consuming and require equipment for washing, incubation, and reading of the results. AuBioDOT is a multistep visual diagnostic immunoassay that uses technology based on the immunoglobulin M (IgM) capture ELISA principle. This system uses white polyethylene opaque plates as the solid phase, colloidal gold as the marker, and silver ion amplification. It does not require special equipment, it is totally manually operated, and it can be performed in less than 1 h. The sensitivity and specificity of AuBioDOT for the detection of anti-dengue virus IgM antibodies were studied with a panel of 336 serum samples (150 serum samples from patients with suspected or serologically confirmed dengue virus infection, 186 serum samples from healthy blood donors and patients without dengue virus infection). The results were compared with those obtained by the MAC-ELISA. A sensitivity of 97.7% and a specificity of 97.1% were obtained. The concordance of the two tests was 97.3%, with a kappa index of 0.94. The application of AuBioDOT for the detection of anti-dengue virus IgM antibodies is recommended as an alternative method for the diagnosis of dengue virus infection, both for clinical diagnosis and for seroepidemiological surveillance. The system is useful under field conditions and in laboratories and requires little equipment.