Abstract

CARDOZO-SEGOVIA, Fátima María et al. Search of flavivirus in individuals with clinical suspicion of dengue and negative for the NS1 antigen in Paraguay. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2017, vol.15, n.1, pp.7-15. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/mem.iics/1812-9528/2017.015(01)07-015.

Flaviviruses are responsible for considerable worldwide morbidity and mortality. Among them, the dengue virus (DENV) causes serious public health problems in Paraguay. The objective of the study was to detect flavivirus infections using a generic RT-nested -PCR in 195 samples of individuals with suspected dengue and negative for the inmunochromatographic test (NS1 antigen - DENV), from the metropolitan area of ​​Asuncion between 2011 and 2013. The flavivirus-positive samples were subjected to two reactions of DENV-specific RT-nested PCRs. The detection limit (DL) for flavivirus was 0.2 PFU / reaction. In total, 43/195 samples were positive for flavivirus. Of them, 38/43 (88,4%) corresponded to DENV (6 DENV-1, 30 DENV-2 and 2 DENV-3). In addition, 5/43 cases (11.6%) positive for flavivirus were negative for DENV by both specific reactions, and may be infections caused by other flaviviruses. The results suggest that the use of a generic reaction followed by other DENV specific reactions in febrile negative cases for NS1 by the immunochromatographic method would allow the detection of more cases of DENV infections and could contribute to the identification of cases due to infections by others flaviviruses.

Keywords : flavivirus; dengue virus; RT-nested PCR; sera; febrile individuals.

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