Indonesia Develops Dengue Fever Early Detection Test Kit

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Photo: greeners.co/Dewi Purningsih

Jakarta (Greeners) – Amid recent dengue fever outbreak in Indonesia, Technology Assessment and Application Agency or BPPT collaborating with PT Hepatika Mataram develop a diagnostic kit, said a senior official.

The kit is a testing instrument for early detection of dengue fever in short time, claimed to be able to give results within two to ten minutes.

Soni S. Wirawan, deputy of Agroindustry Technology and Biotechnology at BPPT, said the kit is a prototype designed by the agency and it is still under development while looking for partners to mass production.

“We want industry partners who are producing this kit massively can immediately produce and use to speed up detection and prevention of dengue fever in Indonesia,” said Wirawan in Jakarta on Wednesday (06/02/2019).

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Agung Eru Wibowo, acting director of Pharmacy Technology and Medicals of BPPT, said that current dengue fever is one of world’s health issues, especially in subtropical and tropical countries such as Indonesia.

Based on Ministry of Health, 122,676 dengue fever cases recorded in 2005 per year and 1,031 deaths per year.

Up to 29 January 2019, there are 13,683 cases in 34 provinces with 132 deaths.

These numbers are higher than 6,167 cases and 43 deaths in 2018.

READ ALSO: Indonesian Scientists Develops Antibiotics from the Country’s Rich Biodiversity 

Early 2019, outbreaks of dengue fever were reported from cities, including Manado of North Sulawesi and seven districts in East Nusa Tenggara, — East Sumba, West Sumba, West Manggarai, Ngada, South Timor Tengah, Ende and East Manggarai.

Wibowo said that the kit uses anti-NS1 monoklonal antibody developed based on Indonesia’s local strain virus.

“The main component of the prototype of BPPT dengue fever kit is antibody monoklonal anti-NS1 is proven in the lab scale to recognize the local dengue virus in Indonesia,” he said.

Currently, the agency is discussing with industries for development and commercializing. Hence, there is yet any mass production.

“Hopefully, not in a long time for this dengue kit can be produced massively to help tackle the outbreaks in Indonesia,” he said.

Reports by Dewi Purningsih

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