June: Dengue Awareness Month

June is the start of dengue season. It is also dengue Awareness month.

Dengue fever or better known as dengue is an acute Flavivirus infection transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and occurs in tropic and sub-tropic regions.1 There are four types of Dengue virus (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4). After a person is infected with dengue, they will develop an immune response to that Dengue subtype.2

According to the Department of Health, there are 6 symptoms of Dengue Fever, namely: (1) High continuous fever lasting for 2-7 days, (2) Nausea/ vomiting, (3) Abdominal pain, (4) Body weakness, (5) Bleeding tendencies from nose and gums, and (6) Persistent red spots on the face, extremities and trunks.3 These symptoms appear 3-14 days after the infective bite.4

Our product, SD Bioline Dengue Duo is the perfect rapid diagnostic test for this disease.

Dengue Duo is a combined test of Dengue NS1 Ag and Dengue IgG/IgM test; it is an antigen and antibody test in one. Dengue NS1 Ag test only detects Early Stages of Dengue fever, while Dengue IgG/IgM only detects Late Stages of the disease; hence, for a perfect diagnosis of dengue infection during all clinical stages, Dengue antigen and antibodies should be tested together. This is where Dengue Duo comes in as it detects ALL STAGES of Dengue.

Our edge over other tests.  As early as 2006, the Scientific Work Group on Dengue Research made a study on Dengue Diagnosis, recommending that a “More novel diagnostic techniques need to be developed for patient management. The goal of a new diagnostic tool would combine antigen (e.g. NS1 antigen) and IgM/IgG detection in a single test and ideally prognostic markers of disease severity would be paired with an etiologic diagnosis.” 5, and now the test they’ve been talking about is out on the market for more than two years as SD Bioline Dengue Duo.

SD Bioline Dengue Duo is the first and only product in the world. It could diagnose Dengue NS1 Ag even during window period and make up for the weak point of antigen single test.

Disclaimer. The SD Bioline Dengue Duo kit is intended only for an initial screening test and reactive samples should be confirmed by a supplemental assay such as RT-PCR, IgM/IgG ELISA or HI (Hemagglutination inhibition) test.