A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DENGUE RAPID IMMUNO CHROMATOGRAPHIC CARD TEST WITH DENGUE ELISA AT TERTIARY CARE CENTRE, SOUTHERN RAJASTHAN.

Abstract

Dengue has emerged as a major public health concern throughout India because of the mortality and morbidity associated with it. Hence, early and rapid laboratory diagnosis of dengue is crucial. This study was aimed to compare results of immunochromatographic card test and ELISA in dengue fever patients at a tertiary hospital.

Materials & Methods: Blood samples from the clinically suspected cases of Dengue were collected using strict aseptic precautions and serum was separated using standard methods. Serum collected was tested for NS1 antigen and IgM/IgG antibodies using one-step immune-chromatographic assay. All rapid card test positive samples were retested by IgM and NS1 ELISA. Specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the IgM and NS1 rapid ICT test were calculated by using IgM and NS1 ELISA results as the reference test.

Results: From April 2023 to September 2024, a total of 318 samples were found to be positive for dengue serology for one or more parameters. The most affected age group was 21–30 years (26.7%). Males were affected more than females. Maximum number of patients were reported in month of October (32.4%) followed by September (19.5). Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of NS1 rapid test kits were 97.01%, 100%, 100%, 95.1% and 98.1% respectively and for IgM rapid test kits was 96.7%, 100%, 100%, 97.1% and 98.4% respectively.

Conclusions: Although ELISA is gold standard test but high sensitivity and specificity of rapid kits also helps in early screening of patients and can further limit the spread of disease.