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CHPL has a tie-up with Panbio, a world leader in dengue detection kits, and is the first company in India to make available the kits and is the market leader in this segment. |
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The kits are being made available in three categories - the rapid test kit that can detect both primary and secondary dengue infections in 15 minutes along with two other confirmatory test kits, IgM and IgG, which are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based and confirmatory in nature. |
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In the first ten months of this year alone (January-October), CHPL has sold over 1,000 kits in several dengue-affected areas of the country. |
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While the cost per test for the rapid kit test is Rs 450, no skilled personnel are required for these tests. |
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For the two other tests, the cost per test is Rs 160 for IgM (to confirm primary infection) and Rs 150 per test for IgG (to confirm secondary dengue infection), said CHPL officials. |
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Casil has earned revenues worth around Rs 45 lakh in the past ten months by marketing dengue kits alone, officials said. |
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In Ahmedabad, over 50 cases of dengue have been reported in the past month alone. Government and civic body-run hospitals such as the Civil Hospital and V S Hospital, along with several private hospitals such as Sterling, SAL, Jivraj Mehta hospital and the likes have reported such cases. |
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The dengue fever virus is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected female aedes aegypti mosquito. The virus circulates in blood of the infected human before it causes a drop in the platelets and white blood corpuscles (WBC) count. |
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This causes symptoms such as high fever, severe body ache, flushed skin, pain in bones and joints and vomiting. If not diagnosed or treated, it can prove fatal. |
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According to CHPL, serology diagnosis is the most effective tool in detection and differentiation of primary and secondary dengue infection. |
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The IgM and IgG kits are useful in the diagnosis of active dengue infections during the primary and secondary infections, respectively, and are confirmatory tests. Casil also markets rapid test kits to detect both, primary and secondary infections. |
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