Increased sensitivity of NS1 ELISA by heat dissociation in acute dengue 4 cases

Dengue is an acute febrile illness considered the major arboviral disease in terms of morbidity, mortality, economic impact and dissemination worldwide. Brazil accounts for the highest notification rate, with circulation of all four dengue serotypes. The NS1 antigen is a dengue highly conserved specific soluble glycoprotein essential for viral replication and viability that can be detected 0 to 18 days from the onset of fever (peak first 3 days). It induces a strong humoral response and is known as a complement-fixing antigen. Lower NS1 test sensitivity occurs in secondary dengue infections probably due to immune complex formation impairing antigen detection by ELISA.

We compared the sensitivity of NS1 ELISA in heat dissociated and non-dissociated samples from 156 RT-PCR confirmed acute dengue-4 cases from 362 prospectively enrolled patients.

Secondary infections accounted for 83.3% of cases. NS1 ELISA was positive in 42.5% and indeterminate in 10.2% of dengue-4 cases. After heat dissociation, 7 negative and 16 indeterminate samples turned positive, increasing the overall test sensitivity to 57.7%.

Although it is time consuming and requires the use of specific laboratory equipment, NS1 ELISA combined with heat dissociation could be a slightly better alternative for triage in suspected dengue cases.