External quality assurance of serological diagnosis of dengue, chikungunya and Japanese encephalitis virus infection

Introduction: Dengue, chikungunya and Japanese encephalitis are the most common arthropod-borne viral diseases in India. Due to overlapping clinical symptoms, accurate, high-quality and timely laboratory-based differential diagnosis is essential for control and containment of outbreaks. This is most commonly done by detection of IgM antibodies in serum using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The Resource Centre for Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) in Pune, India organized an external quality assurance (EQA) study to check the accuracy of serological diagnostics in the VRDL network.Methods: Three panels, one each for anti-dengue virus, anti-chikungunya virus and anti-Japanese encephalitis virus IgM antibodies, comprising six human serum samples (two positive and four negative) were distributed to test the sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of serological testing in 124 VRDLs across India in 2018-19 and 2019-20.Results: Among the 124 VRDLs, the average concordance for both 2018-19 and 2019-20 was 98%. In 2018-19, 78.33%, 13.33% and 6.66% of VRDLs reported 100% concordance, 91-99% concordance and 81-90% concordance with the reference results, respectively, and 1.66% of VRDLs had concordance < 80%. In 2019-20, 79.68%, 14.06% and 4.68% of VRDLs reported 100% concordance, 91-99% concordance and 81-90% concordance with the reference results, respectively, and 1.56% of VRDLs had concordance < 80%.Conclusion: The EQA programme was beneficial for assessing and understanding the performance of the VRDLs. The study data indicate good proficiency in serological diagnosis of dengue, chikungunya and Japanese encephalitis in the VRDL network laboratories. Further expansion of the EQA programme to cover other viruses of public health importance will increase confidence among the VRDL network, and generate evidence of high-quality testing.