[Use of an inhibition method of ELISA in the serologic diagnosis of dengue. Preliminary report].

This paper reports the standardization of an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) inhibition method for the serologic diagnosis of dengue, with the use of non-purified antigen. The conditions and criteria of the test for detection of antibodies for a group of 82 sera (12 monosera and 35 paired sera) are established. The results are compared with those obtained by hemagglutination inhibition and a good agreement between the two tests, as well as greater sensitivity of ELISA, is found. Some advantages of this technique in connection with hemagglutination inhibition are listed; they are: easy performance, rapidity, no need for serum treatment, and the use of viral suspensions without using any method of extraction.