Eight-year old Amir (not his real name) was initially diagnosed with bronchopneumonia when he was confined at a local hospital. It was only after a few days when doctors finally discovered he had dengue, a little too late, since he had already experienced complications.
Amir is not the only one though that has been diagnosed with another illness, only to find out later on that he already had dengue. Doctors do not really require immediate testing for dengue unless there is very high fever for three days.
Even after a patient has had a complete blood count or CBC, there is still no assurance that the patient has contacted dengue. For one, CBC measures the concentration not only of the red and white blood cells but also the blood’s platelet level.
In most cases, dengue is only detected through the CBC at a later time, when the patient is already too ill to avoid complications or to even survive dengue.
Not anymore, thanks to biotech companies which have developed another option for dengue testing. The product, which works like the typical home pregnancy kit, is only called NS1.
“We have not actually received any endorsement from the head office or from the World Health Organization about the new method of detecting dengue,” Department of Health 11 health, education and promotion officer Divene Hilario said. However, she added, hospitals may have already made such service available to their patients since they are in the forefront of healthcare.
A medical worker at the Davao Doctors Hospital said as far as she knows, NS1 is available only at Davao Doctors. The NS1 dengue test costs P1,700 and is more expensive than the P200 CBC test. The NS1 results become available only after three hours, while the CBC results become available in an hour or two depending on the laboratory.
However, a laboratory worker at Davao Doctors said the NS1 is a more efficient way of detecting dengue since it can easily detect the presence of dengue in the blood within zero to five days.
Earlier reports, however, show that the pregnancy test-like gadget for dengue testing works in only 15 minutes, and is able to recognize the presence of dengue with 80 percent accuracy.
Research shows that the NS1 (called Bio-Rad in other countries) got its name from the NS1 protein which is actually part of the dengue virus which stays in the blood. The protein is detected in the blood through the use of antibodies that are Y-shaped and are attached to gold particles located within a strip in the test kit.
When substance or blood from an infected patient is made to pass through the test strip, the gold particles will pile up and will leave its mark on the indicator line. In a pregnancy test kit, the indicator lines can spell pregnancy. In the NS1 test kit, the indicator lines can spell dengue for the patient.
While there is still no vaccine or cure for dengue, an efficient and fast diagnosis of th disease will allow doctors to manage it and save lives.
The latest data on dengue were made available on September 1, but cover the period August 15 to 21 this year. DOH data show that dengue cases in the Davao region have reached 5,717, with Davao City still at the top of the list with 4,228 cases.
“Davao has the most number of dengue cases because almost all the sentinel hospitals are located here, including the Southern Philippines Medical Center, Davao Doctors Hospital, Medical Mission, Brokenshire and San Pedro Hospital,” Hilario said.
The number of deaths as a result of dengue in the Davao region has also reached 51, which include 31in Davao City. Davao Oriental has 362 dengue cases followed by Davao del Sur with 269, Compostela Valley with 119 and other provinces with 259 cases. [Lovely A. Carillo]
