Diagnose dengue with ease at home

People who suspect that they have dengue may soon breathe a little easier as they will not have to take on the hassle of a hospital visit to confirm or dispel the fear.

Once in production, a kit will allow them to check in the comfort of their own homes whether they are infected with the mosquito-borne disease, and at an affordable price.

The Bangladesh Reference Institute for Chemical Measurements (BRiCM), under the science and technology ministry, has developed a dengue rapid antigen kit that is capable of detecting all serotypes of dengue, said officials of the organisation.

They said they were ready for production but were yet to receive any order from any  government or private organisations.

The Directorate General of Drug Administration approved the kit for commercial production in January.

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"After scrutinising everything, we gave the drug licence to BRiCM and authorised them to start production on January 15 this year," Md Abdul Malek, deputy director of DGDA, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The sensitivity of the kit was proven to be 100 percent accurate as it did not produce any false report till date.

— Mala Khan Director general of BRiCM

The Bangladesh government has to import a huge number of test kits from abroad, spending foreign currency. Officials said if government hospitals use local testing kits, it would ease the pressure on the forex.

Mala Khan, director general of BRiCM, said they have been working to develop the kit since 2021 when dengue started surging in the country.

They developed the protocol and submitted it to the Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) in March 2022, and then the clinical trial of the kit took place at the National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Centre between December 2022 and August 2023.

The BRiCM DG said the kit they developed would cost Tk 120 including all taxes, which is cheaper than imported kits.

 Led by Mala Khan, a group of scientists, including Mamudul Hasan Razu, Raisul Islam Rabby, Jabed Bin Ahmed, Khandkar Sharif Imam, Md Rahat, Nafisa Chowdhury, and Md Shohel, developed the kit.

Mala said the kit had no cross-reactivity with other types of viruses like Zika, Chikungunya, and Covid-19.

She said in almost every case, blood samples are collected at hospitals or diagnostic centres with the help of specialised manpower for testing.

"But in the case of the dengue rapid antigen kit, it is possible to test fingertip blood using the lancet without the help of expert manpower," she said.

"The sensitivity of the kit was proven to be 100 percent accurate as it did not produce any false report till date."

Mala said this would reduce the cost of healthcare, save the government foreign exchange and have a positive impact on the socio-economic development of the country.

"We have the most modern technology and are ready to produce 50,000 kits a day," Mala said.

BRiCM officials said they have written to the health ministry through the Ministry of Science and Technology on January 21 to purchase their testing kits but were yet to receive any order from them.

"It's very good news. We have to follow procedure to purchase any product. We would like to promote our local products. If every criterion is met for purchasing, we will surely go for it," said Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).