Kr. Porter et al., Evaluation of a commercially available immunoglobulin M capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit for diagnosing acute dengue infections, CL DIAG LAB, 6(5), 1999, pp. 741-744
Recently, commercially available kits for the detection of anti-dengue viru
s (anti-DEN) immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies have been developed. These s
tandardized assays have greatly enhanced our ability to effectively diagnos
e DEN infections. We conducted an evaluation of a test kit manufactured by
MRL Diagnostics Inc. that is designed to detect anti-DEN IgM antibodies. Ei
ghty paired samples from DEN-infected individuals were tested by the MRL DE
N Fever Virus IgM Capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the Pa
nBio Duo ELISA, the PanBio Rapid Immunochromatographic Test (PRIT), and the
IgM-IgG antibody capture (MAC/GAC) ELISA, All infections were confirmed by
either PCR-assisted detection of DEN transcripts or by DEN isolation in C6
/36 cells. Seventeen paired samples from individuals with no evidence of ac
ute DEN infection were used as negative controls. The PRIT had the best sen
sitivity (100%), whereas the MAC/GAC ELISA and the PanBio Due assay had the
highest levels of specificity. The MRI, ELISA and the PanBio Duo assay wer
e the top performers when taking into consideration both sensitivity and sp
ecificity. All assays were able to detect DEN-specific antibodies in sample
s from patients with either primary or secondary infections, regardless of
the infecting DEN serotype.