Nandhitha A

Shumaila Abdul Rehman

Srikanth Sandanala

Sasikala G
Spinal NS1Ag, seropositive, ELISA, Antigen. ,

Introduction: Dengue fever is a major public health problem worldwide. The 2011 revised World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines have emphasized on early diagnosis and intervention to reduce the case fatality rate due to dengue fever. Rapid diagnostic tests like NS1 antigen assays have improved the detection of cases in early clinical phase of illness but its role as a predictor of severe dengue infection is not very clear. Aim: To evaluate the utility of NS1 Ag assay as an early diagnostic marker and predictor of severe dengue infection. Materials and Methods: All age groups (0-60) A total of 426 clinically suspected Dengue cases were screened for Serological markers NS1 a g diagnosed and confirmed with dengue fever at a tertiary care Osmania General hospital Hyderabad during the period March –October 2015, were reviewed retrospectively from hospital case records as per the revised WHO guidelines for dengue fever. The diagnosis was confirmed by NS1antigen-based ELISA test. The data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 statistical software. After collecting all the data, all the variables were summarized by descriptive statistics. Results: Among the total study, 132 samples were screened for detection of NS1 Ag. Among them 35 (26.5%) cases were positive. In which more number of cases were shown only dengue fever 34 (25.7%) and only one case showed severe dengue fever. In the present study, A total of 144 patients belongs to age group 20-29 yrs. The present study showed more seropositive cases were identified in 20-29 yrs age group. In this study males (57.7%) are more commonly affected compared to females (42.3%). Conclusion: NS1 Ag assay is a useful early diagnostic marker for dengue fever but cannot be used as an early predictor of severe dengue infection. The criteria for admission in hospitals of cases of dengue fever should be based on clinical warning signs rather than positive NS1 Antigen test

8 , 2 , 2018