MULTICENTER EVALUATION OF DENGUE IGM DOT ENZYME-IMMUNOASSAY

Background: The traditional methods used in the diagnosis of dengue in fection do not lend themselves to field application. As such, clinical specimens have to be sent to a central laboratory for processing whic h invariably leads to delay. This affects patient management and disea se control. The development of the dengue IgM dot enzyme immunoassay h as opened up the possibility of carrying out the test in peripheral he alth settings. Objectives: This multicentre study was conducted to eva luate a new, commercial nitrocellulose membrane based IgM capture enzy me immunoassay. Study design: The sensitivity and specificity of the t est were compared with in-house dengue IgM enzyme-linked immunoassays routinely performed by each of the selected centres. Known positive an d negative dengue specimens, as well as specimens from non-dengue case s, were included in the evaluation. Results: Based on 402 specimens te sted by the six centres, the sensitivity was 92.1% and specificity 88. 1%, with an overall agreement of 92.8% when compared with IgM EIA assa ys performed on microplates. Conclusions: The results suggest that thi s commercial kit has a role to play in the diagnosis of dengue infecti on, especially in peripheral hearth settings. (C) 1996 Elsevier Scienc e B.V.