Evaluation of serological test of Zika in an endemic area of flavivirus in the Colombian Caribbean

Abstract

The Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging flavivirus transmitted primarily through arthropods, endemic in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, and is considered a global threat by the World Health Organization. Objective: To evaluate a commercial Zika virus test (IgG/IgM catalog number B815C, Biocan, Canada. Methods: We evaluated 30 sera of patients diagnosed with Dengue, Leptospira, Malaria, Hantavirus, and Chikungunya. To establish the sensitivity of the test, two groups of sera were analyzed, the first one was patients with Zika RT-qPCR positive, and the second were patients RT-qPCR negative but with clinical suspicion of Zika. Results: The specificity was of 23.3% (7/30), the sensitivity in acute patients with positive RT-qPCR was of 63.6%, the patients with clinical suspicion of Zika the sensitivity (IgM) was of 80% (n = 8/10). Overall sensitivity (IgM) of both groups was of 71.4% (15/21). Conclusions: The test showed a low specificity to be used as a serological test in an endemic area of flavivirus infection.