The laboratorial diagnosis of dengue: applications and implications

• Published in: Journal of global infectious diseases Vol. 1; no. 1; pp. 38 - 44
• Main Authors: Dutra, Nina Rocha, de Paula, Marília Barbosa, de Oliveira, Michelle Dias, de Oliveira, Leandro Licursi, De Paula, Sérgio Oliveira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01.01.2009; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Antiviral agents; Causes of; Clinical laboratory; Dengue; Dengue fever; Dengue viruses; Diagnosis; Diagnostics Review; Dosage and administration; Drug therapy; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Infections; Laboratories; Medical research; Polymerase chain reaction; Public health; United States; Brazil; Dengue; Clinical laboratory; Diagnosis
• ISSN: 0974-777X; 0974-8245
• DOI: 10.4103/0974-777X.52980

The diagnosis of infection by the dengue virus relies, in most cases, on the clinical judgment of the patient, since only a few major centers have clinical laboratories that offer diagnostic tests to confirm the clinical impressions of an infection. At present, routine laboratory diagnosis is done by different kinds of testing. Among them are the methods of serological research, virus isolation, detection of viral antigens, and detection of viral genomes. The continued development of diagnostic tests, which are cheap, sensitive, specific, easy to perform, and capable of giving early diagnosis of the dengue virus infection is still a need. There are also other obstacles that are not specifically related to the technological development of diagnostic methods. For instance, infrastructure of the laboratories, the training of personnel, and the capacity of research of these laboratories are still limited in many parts of Brazil and the world, where dengue is endemic. Clinical laboratories, especially the ones that serve regions with a high incidence of dengue, should be aware of all the diagnostic methods available for routine these days, and choose the one that best suit their working conditions and populations served, in order to save lives.