Detection and serotyping of dengue viruses by PCR: a simple, rapid method for the isolation of viral RNA from infected mosquito larvae
Chan, S.Y.; Kautner, I.; Lam, S.K.
Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health 25(2): 258-261
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0125-1562 PMID: 7855637 Document Number: 423113
Dengue viruses pose a considerable global public health problem with an estimated 100 million cases of illness every year. This illustrates the need for rapid and reliable diagnostic methods for proper patient management and disease control. Currently, laboratory diagnosis depends on serology or virus isolation, with both methods having certain drawbacks. Alternatively, reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) offers the potential for the rapid, highly sensitive and specific detection of dengue viruses. Since the authors occasionally encounter the problem of insufficient amounts of patient serum for the direct detection of dengue viruses, a method was developed for the extraction of viral RNA after biological amplification in mosquito larvae (Toxorhynchites splendens). Using this method, 15 of 19 clinical samples tested were correctly identified using RT-PCR.