Improving dengue virus diagnosis in rural areas of Mexico

Evaluation of an "in-house system" for the diagnosis of dengue infection by detection of specific IgM and IgG antibodies showed that 25 out of 34 (73.53%) serum samples were positive for IgM antibodies; 6 (17.64%) were positive for IgG and 3 (8.8%) were negative for both IgM and IgG anti-DENV antibodies. Ten samples from "non-symptomatic" people were all negative. In order to evaluate the anti-DENV ELISA, 20 serum samples obtained from healthy individuals from a non-endemic region (Mexico City) and 20 serum samples previously classified as positive were tested. All 20 samples from healthy individuals proved to be negative for both IgM and IgG anti-DENV antibodies, whereas not all positive samples resulted as positive in our assay.