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Monday, October 27, 2008

Week 18 of SIP

Alright, its been a little bit of a delay trying to post my part up, due to the hectic and busy long weekend I had, thus leaving me with no time to do. So as time whizzes by, its week 18 of the internship programme, and 4 1/2 months have passed. 2 MORE WEEKS TO GO! And also, this would be the last posting by me. I think I am gonna miss SIP!!

Basically, I am starting in my company's Thomson Medical Centre outlet this week (after completing Paragon & Bukit Merah outlets), where patients do take a queue number and wait for their turn to be attended to us. I will thus share with you tests on Immunology - Dengue Duo Casette Test



WHAT IS DENGUE?

Dengue is a flagivirus found in the tropics, and is characterised by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. It is characterised by a spectrum of clinical manifestations, and is accompanied by dengue fever and shock syndrome.


Principle:
Dengue -specific IgM or IgG antibodies binding to anti-human IgM or Ig-G antibodies immobilized in two lines across the casette membrane. Collodial gold complexes contain recombinant dengue 1 - 4 antigens captured by the bound patient's IgM or IgG to give visible pink lines. A procedural control is done to indicate that the assay has been performed correctly.

In Dengue Duo Casette test, IgM and IgG are determined using a single addition of serum, plasma and whole blood. Differentiation between primary and secondary infection can be made through a single application of serum, plasma and whole blood. In primary infections, serum IgM antibodies can be detected from dengue patients as early as 3-5 days after the onset of fever, persisting for 30 - 90 days. Secondary infection can be characterised by high IgG levels that may be accompanied by elevated IgM levels.

The results can be intepreted by:



From left to right:
  1. Primary Infection : Positive for IgM antibodies
  2. Secondary Infection: Positive for IgM & IgG antibodies

  3. Secondary Infection: Positive for IgG antibodies

  4. Negative: No detectable IgG or IgM

That's all! Enjoy your final 2 weeks of SIP!


Lloyd Lam TG02 0607775D

posted by THE CODEC 5 @ 10:22 PM

2 Comments:

At October 29, 2008 at 9:28 AM , Blogger group1 said...

Hey Lloyd :)

If the primary and secondary infection lines appears in light colour, isit still considered that there is infection? Or the kit requires clear and obvious lines to conclude that the patients have dengue?

What are the differences in treatment for both primary and secondary infections?
Thanks.

Yvonne Teo
0605109H

 
At November 9, 2008 at 11:35 PM , Blogger THE CODEC 5 said...

To Yvonne:

Yes, as long as there is a light colour, it means that there is infection. There is no need for clear and obvious lines.

Treatments are similar for both infections. Most dengue patients require hospitlization to seek treatment for both primary and secondary infections.

The main reason is beacuse primary infection would lead to secondary infection. Dengue is a serious illness and it affects the antibodies, causing other parts of the body to malfunction. Thus, we need to treat the body even in primary infection to reduce the chances of progressing it to secondary infection.

These are the info got from my colleagues.

Lloyd
TG02

 

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