Trends in dengue diagnosis

Abstract

The conventional diagnosis of dengue virus infections includes the detection of the virus in serum or tissue samples, both by isolation in culture or through detection of specific viral molecules (genome RNA or dengue antigens) and detection of specific anti-dengue antibodies (serology). Isolation of dengue virus provides the most direct and conclusive approach to diagnosis, despite the demand for high-level equipment, technical skills and manpower. However, it is useless in early diagnosis because several days are required to isolate and classify the virus. Serology, despite being simpler, is not able to afford an accurate early diagnosis in primary infections because 4-5 days are required for the immune system to produce a sufficient amount of antibodies. Moreover, it leads to misleading results in secondary infections owing to cross-reactivity among serotype-specific antibodies and with other flavivirus antibodies. The RT-PCR and other PCR-based techniques are fast, serotype-discriminating, more sensitive and easier to carry out than conventional nucleic-acid hybridisation, but are handicapped by easy sample contamination and high technological demands. Recently, advances in bioelectronics have generated commercial kits and new techniques for detection of dengue antibodies and RNA, based on biosensor technology. Most of them are rapid, easy to operate, reusable, cheap, sensitive and serotype-specific. Nevertheless, their accuracy is still questionable because most still lack validation and standardisation. This review summarises and describes the techniques currently employed and anticipated in the near future for diagnosis of dengue disease.

Multicountry Prospective Clinical Evaluation of Two Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays and Two Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Diagnosing Dengue Fever

“…Managing the consequences of hemorrhage can save lives and decrease hospitalization costs (9). A timely diagnosis of the disease also enables health care professionals to exclude other causes of febrile illness which presents with similar clinical symptoms in the acute phase of disease in areas where dengue is endemic (9)(10)(11)(12).…”

Artificial Receptors in Serologic Tests for the Early Diagnosis of Dengue Virus Infection

“…We can detect acute dengue infections in acute phase sera by means of virus isolation or PCR (8 -10 ) or by detection of circulating dengue nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) 4 (11 ) using an antigen-detection ELISA (12)(13)(14); but commercially available methods (15,16 ) are slow, cumbersome, and costly. They require research resources or simply are not available (NS1 ELISA).…”

Nanobiotechnology Solutions againstAedes aegypti

“…9,10,25 Nevertheless, these types of compounds commonly show a low bioavailability, especially for therapeutic uses, the reason why several strategies to overcome this limitation focus on the use of a wide variety of nanocarriers, including liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanoemulsions and nanocrystals, or polymeric nanoparticles, among others. 26 Liposomal formulations have shown interesting properties in terms of the effective antiviral dose, decreasing the toxic concentrations and enhancing the retention time of the drug in blood circulation (due to pegylation). Experiments in vivo demonstrated that the delivery of iminosugars (all deoxynojirimycin derivatives) via Figure 2.…”