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The Dengue Duo Rapid Diagnostic Test (SD Dengue RDT) has good specificity and sensitivity for dengue diagnosis in rural tropical areas. In a previous study, using four control sera, we demonstrated that that the diagnostic accuracy of these RDTs remains stable after long-term storage at high temperatures. We extended this study by testing sera from 119 febrile patients collected between July-November 2012 at Salavan Provincial Hospital (southern Laos) with RDTs stored for 6 months at 4°C, 35° and in a hut (miniature traditional house) at Lao ambient temperatures. The dengue NS1 antigen results from RDTs stored at 35°C and in the hut demonstrated 100% agreement with those stored at 4°C. However, lower positive percent agreements, with broad 95%CI, were observed for the tests: IgM, 60% (14.7-94.7) and 40% (5.3-85.3) for RDTs store at 35°C and in the hut, compared to those stored at 4°C, respectively. This study strenghtens the evidence of the robustness of the NS1 antigen detection RDT for the diagnosis of dengue after storage at tropical temperatures.

  Funding: Funded by the Wellcome Trust of Great Britain (Grant number 089275/Z/09/Z, www.wellcome.ac.uk), the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific (www.wpro.who.int), with grants from the Australian Agency for International Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the United States Agency for International Development and by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (www.finddiagnostics.org) through a grant from the UK Department for International Development. Sequencing should be attempted if conventional (nested) PCR products are obtained, as BLAST analysis will provide high-level confidence with confirmation of the amplicon similarity to gene sequences deposited in GenBank and/or genotyping using SNPs will allow for discrimination at a more subtle level.

Funding: Funded by the Wellcome Trust of Great Britain (Grant number 089275/Z/09/Z, www.wellcome.ac.uk), the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific (www.wpro.who.int), with grants from the Australian Agency for International Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the United States Agency for International Development and by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (www.finddiagnostics.org) through a grant from the UK Department for International Development. Sequencing should be attempted if conventional (nested) PCR products are obtained, as BLAST analysis will provide high-level confidence with confirmation of the amplicon similarity to gene sequences deposited in GenBank and/or genotyping using SNPs will allow for discrimination at a more subtle level.