International Journal of Medical and Health Research

Authors
Dr. Shamim Ahmad, Dr. Ahsan Hamidi

Abstract
Introduction: Dengue is a global health issue. The clinical illness ranges from an asymptomatic febrile illness to dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Objectives: The present study was undertaken to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of SD (BIOLINE) Dengue Duo (NS1 Ag & Ab combo) rapid test in comparison to capture ELISA for early diagnosis of dengue infection. Material and Methods: It was a medical college and hospital based retrospective cross sectional study. The data was collected by reviewing the records of 250 patients who attended the OPD or were admitted to the hospital with the suspicion of dengue infection, from Feb 2015 to March 2016. The blood samples were routinely processed in central clinical laboratory and were tested by both, SD (Bioline) Dengue Duo rapid test and ELISA. Results: Out of 250 samples 69 were found to be reactive for Dengue infection by ELISA. Out of these 69 seropositive samples rapid test was reactive in 55 samples. There were 18 samples in which only NS1 Ag was positive by both rapid test and ELISA. Overall sensitivity of rapid test in comparison with ELISA was found to be 79.71% and specificity was 100%. Conclusion: Early diagnosis and treatment of the patient suffering from the infection is important. SD (Bioline) Dengue Duo rapid test can be a useful tool in initial diagnosis of the infection as it detects NS1 Ag in addition to the antibodies. Its results are comparable to ELISA.