A study on evaluation and correlation of serological methods and platelet count for diagnosis of dengue virus...

Dengue is an arthropod-borne, acute, potentially fatal viral infection, endemic in many tropical and sub-tropical countries having public health threat globally in the recent era. Effective and prompt diagnosis is very essential to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with the severe form of the diseases. Diagnosis by dengue-specific markers like Non-Structural protein 1 antigen or IgM/IgG antibody by serological method is the choice of investigation and platelet count is the most widely used non-specific biomarker. This study aimed to evaluate and correlate results of two serological diagnostic methods (Dengue NS1 Antigen and Dengue IgM antibodies by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) and with platelet count for diagnosis of dengue infection.

Retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted for a duration of 6 months, from April 2022 to September 2022. Total 4063 serum samples from dengue-suspected patients were tested according to duration of illness by ELISA for presence of NS1 Ag (≤5 days of illness) or IgM antibody (>5 days of illness).

393/4063 were detected positive by either method (NS1/IgM) and majority of patients were diagnosed between 3-8 days of illness. Specifically, 248/2250 were tested positive for dengue NS1-Ag only, while 145/1813 were seropositive by dengue IgM only. Thrombocytopenia (platelet counts <100000/mm 3 ) was found in 301/393 seropositive cases which was also observed in NS1 (207/248 cases) and IgM (94/145 cases) seropositive patients.

Dengue-specific parameters (NS1/IgM detection) in combination with platelet count helps in accurate, timely diagnosis and better monitoring in the clinical management of patients.