The inability of a dengue NS1 ELISA to detect Zika infections

Sci Rep. 2019 Dec 9;9(1):18596. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-55160-4.

Abstract

The presence of dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV) and Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in Brazil, may result in a difficult diagnosis due to the signs and symptoms shared by those. Moreover, as DENV and ZIKV belong to the same family, serological assays may show a high rate of cross-reactivity. Here, we evaluated a Dengue NS1 capture assay for early and differential diagnosis of dengue during the Zika epidemic occurred in Brazil in 2016. Samples (n = 227) from 218 patients included sera, plasma and urine from previously confirmed acute cases of Zika, dengue and Zika/dengue co-infections. Nine of those patients presented two specimens. The Dengue NS1 test was very specific for dengue diagnosis (99.32%), even in the co-circulation with ZIKV, and exhibited a high accuracy in not detecting acute Zika infections (92.43%). Our findings showed that the dengue NS1 capture test analyzed here was not able to recognize the ZIKV NS1 and its potential for cross-reaction.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Viral / immunology
  • Brazil / epidemiology
  • Cross Reactions*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Dengue / diagnosis*
  • Dengue / immunology
  • Dengue Virus
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods*
  • Humans
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Serotyping
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / analysis*
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / immunology
  • Zika Virus
  • Zika Virus Infection / diagnosis*
  • Zika Virus Infection / immunology

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral
  • NS1 protein, dengue-1 virus
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins