How to detect the dengue virus in real time? The Biocientifica company has just launched the Schep Dengue Screen, the first Argentine industry R&D kit based on real-time PCR technology. It has already been approved by ANMAT and will be available to laboratories in the coming weeks. “We are producing the first batch and we are going to deliver it free of charge to interested people. From there we will launch into the market in general ”, he explains to the UNQ Scientific News Agency the biochemist Héctor Magno Quiroz, director of Research and Development of the company.
How does it work
To shed light on the matter, Quiroz details that the kit it is a qualitative test in a single step, which provides the necessary reagents for reverse transcription, amplification and detection of specific regions of dengue virus types 1, 2, 3 and 4. “It works using the RT-PCR technique in real time, from RNA samples extracted from human serum, for the diagnosis of dengue and epidemiological surveillance.”.
As detailed, the kit uses enzymes that are only activated at high temperatures. “This reduces the chance of non-specific reactions during assay setup.” In addition, it includes the necessary components for the amplification of the human RNase P gene, as an internal control, which makes it possible to identify a possible inhibition of the PCR reaction, detect drawbacks in the nucleic acid extraction and purification process, and verify correct performance. of the kit. In this sense, to amplify and detect the viral genome, specific primers and probes were designed. “that allow a better identification”.
The brand new development was carried out entirely by an interdisciplinary Biocientific R&D team and expands the portfolio of the Schep line for molecular diagnosis of infectious diseases.
Bioscientific: a commitment to knowledge
This Argentine company was founded by Dr. Roberto Sedlinsky with the aim of developing, producing and marketing in vitro diagnostic reagents for human diseases in Argentina. The first products were intended for the diagnosis of uncommon autoimmune and infectious diseases or difficult detection and measurement of plasma proteins of clinical interest. But thanks to advances in laboratory techniques, in 2002 they inaugurated the molecular biology division and began manufacturing kits for molecular diagnosis.
In 2020 they launched a molecular biology diagnostic platform, through the in vitro diagnostic kit “Schep SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Duo”, for the diagnosis of COVID-19. And then they designed “Schep SARS-CoV-2 Multi-FAST”, in a fast multiplex format. “Today, our R&D department is developing four new products for the detection of viral diseases by PCR in real time”, highlights the R&D director of Biocientífica.
A global health problem
Dengue belongs to the Flavivirus genus and is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. It is estimated that 50 million infections occur each year. In the rest of the world, this virus represents one of the causes of febrile illness among travelers returning from subtropical areas of the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia.
The infection can be asymptomatic or manifest with a wide clinical spectrum ranging from inapparent or febrile forms with body aches to severe forms that include shock and impaired hemostasis with or without bleeding.
In this sense, it is key to detect the virus as soon as possible and to be able to make an efficient and accurate diagnosis for clinical care. This also contributes to the early detection of severe cases, case confirmation and differential diagnosis with other infectious diseases, surveillance activities, outbreak control, pathogenesis, academic research, vaccine development and clinical trials.