Rapid diagnostic kit for Chikungunya detection

Why is it in news?
  • An antigen-based chikungunya rapid diagnostic kit developed in 2013 by an international group of researchers was put to test in India, a dengue endemic country, to check its efficiency during co-infection with dengue.
  • During the chikungunya outbreak that happened in Delhi in 2016, over 100 suspected chikungunya-dengue patients were tested using the new technology and the kit was able to detect chikungunya accurately — 93% sensitivity and 95% specificity.
More in news
  • Comparison between Present technique and new technique:
    (1) The kit is designed to detect the chikungunya virus antigen in human serum.
    (2) Current tests for chikungunya look for the antibody produced by our body against the virus.
    (3) This is the first time a technology has been developed to identify the virus antigen.
    (4) The ability of the antigen-based test to detect chikungunya at different times after the onset of fever was 72%.
    (5) The kit is also faster than the DNA- and antibody-based methods and can give results in 15-30 minutes.
  • Kit speciality:
    (1) The kit was able to detect the antigen even in dengue co-infected patient and did not cross-react with dengue positive or chikungunya negative patients.
    (2) The cross-reactivity was also tested with other fever-causing diseases like malaria, typhoid, hepatitis B and C and Salmonella infection.
    (3) The new kit did not react with any of the samples.
Source
The Hindu
 
 
 
 
Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 14th Jan 2019
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