Comparison of two commercial real-time PCR assays for detection of dengue virus in patient serum samples

This study evaluated and compared the performance of two real-time PCR assays using nested reverse transcription (RT)-PCR as the reference method. Among 117 nested RT-PCR-positive cases, the abTES DEN 5 qPCR kit detected 97.4% of dengue virus (DENV) infections, while the innuDETECT Dengue TwoStep assay did so for 44.4%. Sensitivity varied by infecting serotype and the stage of infection. The abTES kit has the potential to replace nested RT-PCR for the rapid diagnosis of DENV infection.