A Point-of-Care Field Assay for Dengue Viruses

Dengue viruses are transmitted by mosquito vectors throughout tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. Four serotypes circulate, DEN-1 through -4, and immunity to one type does not preclude illness from another type and can exacerbate subsequent disease with another type. While dengue fever can be a mild infection, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) cause death at a high rate and are associated with multiple serotypes worldwide. Dengue fever symptoms, especially at the early acute stage, can resemble infection with other disease agents, such as malaria and rickettsial diseases, with different treatment regimens. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a recently developed technique with similar or better detection sensitivity and specificity compared to PCR assays, but allows a single temperature incubation and simple readout more suitable to field devices. LAMP also offers the potential of detection in less pure samples, such as blood, facilitating quick field sample preparation. Therefore, Agave BioSystems proposes to develop a real-time reverse-transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (real-time RT-LAMP) diagnostic for detection of Dengue viruses in human serum.