Given your blood for testing and is the waiting period driving you up the wall? This is a typical situation that thousands of people in Delhi must have faced, when they raged with fever and waited for their ELISA test results. They demanded results right away and were losing their cool as they sat at the testing centers.
Dengue was being tested at the testing centers, but the waiting time for the results of the ELISA test was making people lose their patience, and they were getting hysterically aggressive demanding the results, confirmed reports.
Now a request by the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists has been forwarded to the Delhi Government. The advisory issued by the Delhi Government as a result, states that treatment for the vector borne disease is priority and Dengue ELISA should not be needed for getting admission to hospital or starting treatment for Dengue.
Dr. Chand Wattal, Secretary of IAMM has confirmed “There is panic or hysteria that has been created in the community with high tempers where people are demanding dengue ELISA reports immediately quoting its availability and recommendation by authorities. The perception created in the minds of the public is that nothing can be done unless Dengue ELISA report is made available. Due to logistic reasons ELISA reports cannot be issued before its due time which cannot be less than six hours for each run. Thus, there is a need for an advisory from your esteemed office clarifying that Dengue ELISA is not vital or pre requisite for admission or therapy but haemogram is.” The ELISA IgM tests take about 4-6 hours as they are not performed on a single sample basis and this is the reason for the delay in treatment.
Dr. Whattal has claimed “The ELISA IgM antigen requires optimal batching of samples to a certain number to ensure optimal utilization of the assay and cannot be done in a hurry. The required time of incubation should be adhered to, to prevent false positive or wrong results. Also, not more than twice in 24 hours can this assay be done,” thus the delay in results. It’s a well known fact that Dengue has no specific anti-viral treatment and considering this Dr. B.L. Sherwal , president of IAMM has stated that a patient can get supportive treatment on the basis of platelet count, Hbgm per cent, and PCV values, rather than waiting for laboratory confirmation for dengue ELISA report that takes time. 
