ICMR-NIV Develops a Tool For Detecting Nipah Virus

(CTN News) – A primary diagnostic tool for Nipah virus (NiV) screening was developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune in order to screen for IgM and IgG antibodies.

A zoonotic paramyxovirus called NiV can cause fatal encephalitis in humans as it is a paramyxovirus.

A laboratory test called an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a safe, sensitive, specific, and affordable diagnostic tool that can be used to screen large-scale epidemiological investigations as part of an epidemiological screening program.

According to ICMR scientists, developing and evaluating an IgM and IgG ELISA as a screening method for NiV serum samples in suspected cases would also provide a useful tool for planning public health interventions in the future.

To detect IgM and IgG antibodies against NiV in human serum,

two ELISA tests have been produced by using NiV antigen: an IgM capture (MAC) ELISA and an indirect IgG ELISA.

According to the study, sensitivity, specificity, and cross-reactivity of the IgM and IgG antibodies were evaluated using a combination of NiV IgM, IgG positive, and negative human sera, as well as measles, mumps, rubella, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Kyasanur forest disease IgM, IgG positive human sera.

A further claim made by the scientists is that the developed anti-IgM and IgG ELISAs have been proven to have 99.28 percent specificity and 100 percent sensitivity compared to the reference test from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

The anti-Nipah IgM and IgG ELISAs have been found to have a negative predictive value of 100%, a positive predictive value of 90%, and a test accuracy of 99.33 percent for the anti-Nipah IgM and IgG ELISA tests.

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