SERS Platform for Dengue Diagnosis from Clinical Samples Employing a Hand Held Raman Spectrometer.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Diagnostics
• Nanotechnology Applications
• Infectious Disease Research

Background:

• Dengue poses a significant global health threat, particularly in tropical regions, with 2.5 billion people at risk.
• Early and accurate laboratory diagnosis is crucial for effective patient management and preventing severe illness.
• Clinical diagnosis of dengue fever can be challenging due to non-specific febrile symptoms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) based diagnostic method for dengue virus.
• To assess the sensitivity and speed of the SERS technique for detecting dengue in clinical blood samples.
• To establish a rapid, field-deployable diagnostic tool for early-stage dengue detection.

Main Methods:

• Utilized silver nanorod arrays fabricated via glancing angle deposition as SERS substrates.
• Analyzed 5 μL of patient blood serum for SERS spectra.
• Employed Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for statistical differentiation of dengue-positive, dengue-negative, and healthy subjects.

Main Results:

• Successfully differentiated dengue positive, negative, and healthy individuals using SERS spectra.
• Achieved rapid analysis, generating diagnostic reports within one minute.
• Demonstrated the potential for sensitive detection of dengue virus in clinical samples.

Conclusions:

• The SERS-based method offers a sensitive, rapid, and field-deployable approach for early dengue diagnosis.
• This technique can aid in timely supportive treatment for dengue patients within 5 days of symptom onset.
• SERS presents a promising alternative to conventional diagnostic methods for dengue virus detection.