Assessment of qPCR, Nested RT-PCR and Elisa Techniques in Diagnosis of Chikungunya

The definitive diagnosis ability of IgM ELISA, nested RT-PCR and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was evaluated for Chikungunya diagnosis using 180 clinical samples. Real-time qPCR showed a higher sensitivity (88.3%) for Chikungunya diagnosis in the early stages of infection, while IgM ELISA proved sensitive for the late stages of illness (81.8%). The results suggest that the application of both IgM ELISA and RTPCR based assays will be ideal for definitive diagnosis of Chikungunya during outbreaks.