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• Accurate dengue IgG tests are important for dengue pre-vaccination testing. • We compared the Panbio and the NovaLisa dengue IgG ELISAs. • 334 sera were positive in the Panbio and 403 sera were positive in NovaLisa test. • Use of the same calibrator increased the concordance of the ELISAs from 82.8 to 93%. • An optimized standard calibrator is needed to make dengue IgG testing more reliable. Dengue IgG testing is being recommended before dengue vaccination. Presently, the diagnostic method of choice is the dengue IgG ELISA. Determine the test performance and concordance of two commercial dengue IgG ELISA kits. A diagnostic study to examine the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and concordance of the Panbio Dengue Indirect IgG ELISA kit and the NovaLisa Dengue IgG ELISA kit. Sera (483) were from dengue-endemic regions in Sudan. Test performance characteristics were determined when tests were performed as indicated in the test kits and when the Panbio calibrator sample was used for both tests. The sensitivity of the Panbio and the NovaLisa ELISA was 91.1% and 99.0% and the specificity was 79.4% and 50.9%. The Panbio test was slightly more accurate (87.5% compared with 84.0%). Quantitative measurement readings of the tests correlated. The calibrator samples gave different cutoff values. Replacing the NovaLisa cutoff sample with the Panbio calibrator sample raised the accuracy of the NovaLisa assay to 88% and increased the concordance of the tests from 82.8 to 93%. The study shows that the two dengue IgG ELISAs differed clearly in sensitivity and specificity and gave discordant results for 17.2% of the sera. For the most part the discrepancy depended on the calibrator sample. The findings indicate that an optimized dengue IgG calibrator standard can enhance accuracy and concordance of commercial dengue ELISAs. An optimized standard calibrator would make dengue IgG seroprevalence testing more reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the frequency of Zika virus (ZIKV) infections in Sudan. The aim of this study was to obtain data on the prevalence of ZIKV infections and the immunity of the population in the country. To this end, 198 sera obtained between December 2012 and January 2013 in different regions in Sudan were examined for neutralizing antibodies against ZIKV, dengue virus (DENV), and yellow fever virus (YFV). The sera were non-randomly selected. The neutralization titers were compared with each other and with the WHO 1st International Standard for anti-Asian lineage Zika virus antibody. Twenty-six sera neutralized ZIKV. One-third of these sera had higher neutralization titers against ZIKV than against DENV-2 and -3. Two sera showed higher neutralization titers than the WHO standard for ZIKV antibodies. These data suggest occasional ZIKV infections in Sudan. The low percentage of sera in this cohort that neutralized ZIKV indicates that, in the study period, the population was susceptible to ZIKV infection.