[Evaluation of PANBIO rapid immunochromatographic cassette for dengue diagnosis in a Colombian endemic area].

INTRODUCTION: Traditional tests for dengue diagnosis are not useful during the first days of disease onset, because they require time and complex techniques or because they have low sensitivity. Objective. The reliability and precision was determined for the rapid test in cassette (PANBIO) for dengue diagnosis in acute and convalescent serum samples.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The immunochromatographic test was evaluated in samples from patients older than 5 years with acute febrile syndrome. The patients came from the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga during April and August of 2003. Acute and convalescent serum came from 67 dengue cases, diagnosed by viral isolation or IgM paired tests (modified MAC-ELISA), and from 33 patients with acute febrile syndrome (not dengue) that served as controls.

RESULTS: Reliability was good (kappa=0.84). In the convalescent serum, the test showed sensitivity of 76.1%, specificity of 75.8%, positive predictive value of 86.4% and negative predictive value of 61.0%, positive likelihood ratio 3.14 and negative likelihood ratio 0.32. In the acute phase, the values were 52.2%, 84.8%, 87.5%, 46.7%, 3.45 and 0.56, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Rapid immunochromatographic test for dengue diagnosis shows good reproducibility and specificity, with an acceptable sensitivity. Therefore, this rapid test is recommended as diagnostic tool in endemic areas.