AI Article Synopsis
- Zika virus (ZIKV) is linked to increased cases of congenital microcephaly and accurate diagnosis is essential for patient care.
- Researchers developed a new ZIKV NS5 qRT-PCR assay, which outperformed an existing assay by detecting more positive cases in both blood and urine samples.
- The study showed strong agreement between the new and existing assays, highlighting the importance of validated tests for accurate ZIKV diagnosis.
Article Abstract
Infection with Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus has been casually linked with increased congenital microcephaly in Brazil from 2015 through 2016. Sensitive and specific diagnosis of patients with Zika fever (ZIKF) remains critical for patient management. We developed a ZIKV NS5 qRT-PCR assay by combining primers described by Balm et al. and a new Taqman probe. The assay was evaluated and compared with another assay described by Lanciotti et al. (ZIKV 1107) using 51 blood and 42 urine samples from 54 suspected ZIKV patients. ZIKV NS5 performed better in terms of sensitivity with more samples detected as ZIKV-positive (n = 37) than ZIKV 1107 (n = 34) for urine, and ZIKV-positive (n = 29) than ZIKV 1107 (n = 26) for blood. Both assays displayed good overall agreement for urine (κappa = 0.770) and blood (κappa = 0.825) samples. Improved availability of validated diagnostic tests, such ZIKV NS5 qRT-PCR, will be critical to ensure adequate and accurate ZIKV diagnosis.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5838246 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22159-2 | DOI Listing |
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