These affordable test kits, will be particularly relevant in India where 1.29 lakh cases of dengue resulted in 245 deaths in 2016. The kits have been launched across India including tier II, III and IV cities and are available at most government and private hospitals as well as diagnostic centers.
Malaria and dengue diagnosis relies on clinical assessment and serological tests such as rapid diagnostic tests and ELISAs. Rapids are preferred for initial screening because of their advantages such as faster reporting of results (less than 30 minutes compared to 120 mins taken by ELISAs), ease of use, limited resource allotment and affordability.
According to clinicians, detection of the disease early on and more importantly accurate detection is the need of the hour. Test kits are often marred by the concerns of high percentage of false results. Thus, the sensitivity and specificity (avoidance of false results) become crucial parameters. It is imperative for labs and hospitals to choose the detection kits that have been assessed and approved by reference reputed labs for their sensitivity and specificity.
Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd. is India’s leading in-vitro diagnostic company with an entire gamut of instruments and reagents/kits for detection of diseases, infections and other conditions like thyroid disorders, autoimmune disorders, HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, etc. The company is among true Indian multinationals with manufacturing facilities across six countries and products sold to more than 104 countries.
Talking about ErbaQik kits, YS Prabhakar, CEO, Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd. said, “It has always been an endeavour at Transasia to ensure that India has access to the best diagnostic solutions in the world. We have ensured that these are affordable too. The ErbaQik test kits are truly a ‘make in India’ initiative and we are proud to introduce these kits as the most reliable and affordable solutions for rapid detection of dengue and malaria.”
India ranks third in the world having the highest cases of malaria and deaths due to the disease. While Zika virus is a growing concern for the world, dengue and malaria still rule the roost and are yet to see a marginal decrease.
In recent years, the transmission of both malaria and dengue fever has increased predominantly in both the urban and semi-urban areas. New cases as well as recurring outbreaks have been recorded from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Pondicherry and West Bengal.
On its part the health ministry is taking all efforts to curb the spread of these diseases by creating awareness campaigns on sanitization and propagating the need for early detection. However, currently there is no commercially available vaccine for these diseases.
Dr. Suvin Shetty, HOD Laboratory Medicine, Dr. L.H. Hiranandani Hospital added, “All rapid test kits available in the market today have Gold nanoparticle that are used as conjugate in the test membrane strip. As the sample passes through the strip, the gold particle conjugate creates a coloured test and control band. However, there can be errors in interpretation since both test and controls bands can appear to be of the same colour. This increases the chances of a false result.”
The Erba Qik range of rapids for dengue and malaria use two different sizes of gold particles to generate two visually distinct coloured bands for test and control. As a general rule, the colour of the gold nanoparticle solution changes with the change in the size of the particle, ranging from red to purple black with the increasing particle size.
Using a different size of the gold nanoparticle called as ‘Black Gold’ particle gives ErbaQik rapids a unique dual colour advantage (purple black Test band and red Control band) making them the only bi-colour detection immuno-chromatographic device.
Moreover, the larger size of the Black Gold particle provides a larger surface area for the reaction, thereby enhancing the sensitivity and the specificity of the test and reducing the incidence of false results.