Laboratory diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention and control - Mosquito-Borne Flaviviruses Infections

Laboratory diagnosis

Specimens: Blood collected during first 3–5 days of illness isuseful for isolation of virus, and serum is useful for serological tests.

Isolation of the virus: Diagnosis of dengue is confirmed byisolation of virus from blood during first 3–5 days of illness. The virus can be isolated in various cell cultures.

Serodiagnosis: Serodiagnosis of dengue fever is based onthe demonstration of IgM immunoglobulin in a single serum sample or rise in IgG antibodies in paired serum specimens. The IgM capture ELISA (MacELISA) is the most widely used test for demonstration of IgM antibody in the serum. Neutralization test, hemagglutination inhibition, and IgG ELISA are the other serological tests used for diagnosis of the condition.

Treatment

No specific antiviral treatment is available to treat dengue infection.

Prevention and control

No vaccine is available for prevention of dengue infection. The preventive measures are based mostly on mosquito-control activities. These include the use of insecticides and clearing the stagnant water and artificial collections of water that serve as breeding ground for the mosquitoes. Personal control mea-sures include wearing good protective clothings and use of mosquito nets, mosquito repellants, etc.