Dengue NS1 antigen diagnoses dengue early

Dengue haemorrhagic fever is an infectious pathology caused by dengue virus, which can appear into an epidemic and, if not detected, without timely treatment can leave some dangerous, serious complications that can lead to death. Currently, the diagnosis method thanks to the NS1 Ag test is believed to be a new step in the early detection of Dengue haemorrhagic fever.

Dengue is a medical manifestation with many pathogens, including agents such as Marburg virus, Ebola virus, Bolivian haemorrhagic fever, Crimean haemorrhagic fever, Dengue haemorrhagic fever … In particular, in the region of tropical and subtropical countries including Vietnam dengue fever is an infectious disease caused by the mosquito-medial host, which frequently appears in the months from 5 to 9 months of the year. Dengue virus has 4 common types of pathogenic serums: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4, these 4 types change each year causing epidemics every year in Vietnam, because when there is only antibodies against the type of serum that has caused the disease, there are no antibodies against other types.

Patients diagnosed with Dengue hemorrhagic fever have symptoms as early as the first 3 days relatively similar to other common viral manifestations, so it can be confused, difficult to diagnose if based solely on clinical symptoms.

Dengue virus haemorrhagic fever is mostly caused by symptoms of fever and mild hemorrhage (hypopural and mucosal hemorrhage), however in some cases may present severely, with agency hemorrhages such as:

• Digestive bleeding: Manifestations are vomiting blood, going outside black stools …
• Brain haemorrhage: Headache, consciousness disorder…
• Hypotension and shock may be caused by decreased 3ginal mass.

Because dengue is dangerous and can also be spread into large epidemics, early detection helps to monitor and prevent epidemics better. The Dengue NS1 antigen test is a new step forward in the diagnosis of dengue from the very beginning when the patient presentes with fever and is suspected to be dengue.

In order to diagnose dengue not only based on clinical signs, it is necessary to rely on also subclinical signs such as:

• Blood formula test: In dengue, the blood formula has a change in the number of thrombosis (decreased) and the HCT red blood cells index often increases due to blood contensation.
• Rapid test for IgM antibodies: The test finds antibodies against dengue virus.

However, the two tests did not show any change from the first day of the disease when the patient had a fever, but usually on the 3rd day 10 days of testing to see signs. Some cases of rapid antibody testing may result in false positives. Blood formula testing is primarily a measure to monitor the progress of the disease rather than the standard for diagnosing Dengue hemorrhagic fever.

• Real-time PCR testing technique: As a dengue-RNA test method, dengue virus infection can be detected early on when fever has high sensitivity and specificity, in addition to this method can also identify the type of dengue virus that causes disease including DEN-1; DEN-2; DEN-3; DEN-4, however, requires implementation in large, modern medical facilities.

Currently, the diagnosis of Dengue virus haemorrhagic fever by NS1 Ag test is a rapid test for Dengue NS1 antigen in the patient's blood, if positive means that there is the appearance of Dengue virus in the body. Dengue NS1 antigen can be detected in the blood from the first day until the 9th day after the appearance of fever.

Dengue NS1 antigen test has advantages including:

• Detect the disease very early from the first day the patient develops symptoms of fever to the 9th day after fever. Because in the days after the concentration of antigen in the blood decreased, at this time tests for antibodies have more advantages.
• Give quick test results.
• The serum Dengue NS1 antigen test has a sensitivity of 92.4% and has a specificity of 98.4%.
• Early detection of the disease from which patients are monitored, control dangerous complications, reduce the risk of death caused by dangerous complications.

However, most rapid tests can be false positive due to infection with some other virus strains, but this rate is very small at just under 2% and with this method of testing does not allow the type of virus to cause disease.

During the dengue outbreak, if symptoms such as fever, headache, human pain, upper respiratory tract inflammation should be tested early for dengue NS1 antigen, helping to diagnose the disease early.

The NS1 Ag test detects Dengue NS1 antigen in the patient's blood from the very beginning, producing rapid results and having a high specific sensitivity, so this is considered an important step forward in the early detection of dengue-in-the-blood fever. As soon as there are signs of suspected dengue, patients should go to a medical facility to be diagnosed, monitored and treated for complications.

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