The inability of a dengue NS1 ELISA to detect Zika infections

Abstract

The presence of dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV) and Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in Brazil, may result in a difficult diagnosis due to the signs and symptoms shared by those. Moreover, as DENV and ZIKV belong to the same family, serological assays may show a high rate of cross-reactivity. Here, we evaluated a Dengue NS1 capture assay for early and differential diagnosis of dengue during the Zika epidemic occurred in Brazil in 2016. Samples (n = 227) from 218 patients included sera, plasma and urine from previously confirmed acute cases of Zika, dengue and Zika/dengue co-infections. Nine of those patients presented two specimens. The Dengue NS1 test was very specific for dengue diagnosis (99.32%), even in the co-circulation with ZIKV, and exhibited a high accuracy in not detecting acute Zika infections (92.43%). Our findings showed that the dengue NS1 capture test analyzed here was not able to recognize the ZIKV NS1 and its potential for cross-reaction.