Comparison of ELFA and ELISA in diagnosis of early dengue infection among suspected cases of acute febrile illness attending a tertiary care hospital

Introduction: This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of enzyme-linked fluorescent assay (ELFA) compared to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the early detection of dengue among acute febrile illness (AFI) cases at Tertiary care Hospital, Mysore.Materials and Methods: A six-month prospective hospital-based study included 90 blood samples collected for the serological diagnosis of AFIs. Serum samples were analyzed using both ELISA and ELFA to detect dengue NS1 antigen and IgM antibodies. Socio-demographic and clinical data were also collected. Statistical Analysis: Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) to evaluate the diagnostic performance of ELFA compared to ELISA.Result: Of the 90 samples, 53.3% were females and 46.7% were males, with the majority aged 0–10 years (24%) and 11–20 years (16.6%). Most dengue cases were from general medicine (40%) and pediatric wards (25.5%). Fever was the predominant symptom (94.4%), followed by muscle pain (27.7%) and emesis (26.6%). Dengue NS1 and IgM were detected in 13.3% of cases each. Other diagnoses included Leptospira (5.5%), malaria (3.3%), and rickettsiae (2.2%). ELFA demonstrated statistically significant improvements in diagnostic accuracy over ELISA (p < 0.05).Conclusion: ELFA (Mini VIDAS) is a more sensitive and specific tool than ELISA for detecting dengue NS1 and IgM. Incorporating ELFA into clinical practice can enhance early diagnosis of AFIs, leading to better patient outcomes.