Evaluation of efficacy of various immunochromatographic rapid tests for dengue diagnosis

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).

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.

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.

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