Assessment of dengue and COVID-19 antibody rapid diagnostic tests cross-reactivity in Indonesia

Virology Journal

Marsha S. Santoso¹  R. Tedjo Sasmono¹  Benediktus Yohan¹  Sri Masyeni²  Martin L. Hibberd³  Sotianingsih Haryanto⁴ 

[1] Dengue Research Unit, Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Ministry of Research and Technology/National Agency for Research and Innovation of the Republic Indonesia, Jl. Diponegoro 69, 10430, Jakarta, Indonesia;Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitas Warmadewa, 80235, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia;Department of Pathogen Molecular Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, WC1E 7HT, London, UK;Raden Mattaher Hospital, 36361, Jambi, Indonesia;

关键词: COVID-19;    RDT;    IgG;    IgM;    Dengue;    Specificity;    Cross-reactivity;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12985-021-01522-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains ongoing around the world, including in areas where dengue is endemic. Dengue and COVID-19, to some extent, have similar clinical and laboratory features, which can lead to misdiagnosis, delayed treatment and patient’s isolation. The use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) is easy and convenient for fast diagnosis, however there may be issues with cross-reactivity with antibodies for other pathogens.MethodsWe assessed the possibility of cross-reactivity between SARS-CoV-2 and dengue antibodies by: (1) testing five brands of COVID-19 IgG / IgM RDTs on 60 RT-PCR-confirmed dengue samples; (2) testing 95 RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 samples on dengue RDT; and (3) testing samples positive for COVID-19 IgG and/or IgM on dengue RDT.ResultsWe observed a high specificity across all five brands of COVID-19 RDTs, ranging from 98.3 to 100%. Out of the confirmed COVID-19 samples, one patient tested positive for dengue IgM only, another tested positive for dengue IgG only. One patient tested positive for dengue IgG, IgM, and NS1, suggesting a co-infection. In COVID-19 IgG and/or IgM samples, 6.3% of COVID-19 IgG-positive samples also tested positive for dengue IgG, while 21.1% of COVID-19 IgM-positive samples also tested positive for dengue IgG.ConclusionDespite the high specificity of the COVID-19 RDT, we observed cross-reactions and false-positive results between dengue and COVID-19. Dengue and COVID-19 co-infection was also found. Health practitioners in dengue endemic areas should be careful when using antibody RDT for the diagnosis of dengue during the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid misdiagnosis.

【 授权许可】

CC BY