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Laboratory Confirmation of Dengue

Slide 20

May 2012

There are several molecular formats that have proven useful for the confirmation of dengue virus in patient samples.

Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) are based on a nested PCR, which initially detects a highly conserved region of the virus, followed by a serotype-specific secondary PCR reaction.

Reverse transcriptase PCR and nucleic-acid sequence based amplification (NASBA) formats are also used.

Real-time PCR has an advantage due to its rapid turnaround time. Like other molecular tests it is useful for blood collected during the first 5 days of symptoms.

Real-time PCR has been reported to have 80–90% sensitivity; >95% specificity.

It is recommended that negative results from a molecular test are followed up with a serologic method.

Unfortunately, at this time, there are no FDA-approved tests available yet using these molecular methodologies.

Laboratory Confirmation of Dengue
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