EVALUATION OF THE EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF DENGUE WITH SEROLOGICAL MARKERS AND CLINICAL FEATURES IN AN INDIAN HEALTHCARE CENTER

Abstract

Background: In subtropical and tropical areas, arbovirus poses a major health risk and causes epidemics having significant negative social and economic effects along with high mortality and morbidity rates by DENV (dengue virus) transmitted to humans by Aedes family mosquitoes. Aim: The present study aimed to assess the role of NS1 antigen in early detection of dengue virus versus IgM ELISA and to study clinical features in early-stage dengue infection. Methods: The study assessed 50 adult subjects with clinical features suggestive of dengue infection. Subjects were interviewed for demographics including age, gender, and occupation. Subjects were then subjected to physical and systemic assessment along with clinical symptoms
and signs. The findings were recorded for results formulation. Results: 35 subjects tested positive for IgM ELISA, among these 32 tested positive for the NS1 antigen test and 3 subjects were negative. The sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative
predictive values were 92.84% and 90%. 95.57%, and 84.36% respectively with p<0.01. Conclusions: The present study concludes that dengue infection that poses a major healthcare issue can be diagnosed early with clinical features such as SGOT>SGPT, thrombocytopenia, bleeding manifestations, myalgia, and retro-orbital pain which is supported by detecting NS1 antigen.