ID-Fever / PUO Multiplex Panel

Pyrexia of unknown origin remains a clinical challenge despite better understanding of causative diseases and wider access to tests — about 51% of PUO cases remain undiagnosed in the literature cited by ID Labs. Fever accounts for a large share of consultations and is one of the most common reasons for hospital admission, with real mortality and loss of life expectancy when diagnosis is delayed.

In tropical practice, malaria, dengue (all four serotypes), chikungunya, enteric (typhoid) fever, leptospirosis, scrub typhus and influenza-like illness present with overlapping, non-specific features. Multiplex PCR differentiates the causes of febrile illness — including malaria, radiologically confirmed pneumonia and typhoid fever — from a single sample.

Culture is significant only for bacterial infections and takes ~72 hours; serology takes 5–7 days and contributes little to acute management. Symptom-based empirical diagnosis alone cannot separate treatable causes that demand completely different therapies.

Malaria smear and antigen tests, dengue NS1/antibody serology, blood culture for enteric fever, and single-plex PCRs each answer one question at a time, consume separate samples and extend the diagnostic odyssey.

ID-Fever Multiplex assays simultaneously detect viruses, parasites and bacteria in one sample, enabling faster and more appropriate treatment decisions when they matter most — including serotype-level dengue differentiation and species-level Plasmodium identification by distinct amplification signatures.

Use early in the workup of undifferentiated fever, particularly in endemic seasons and returning travellers. Early aetiological diagnosis supports treatment, surveillance, outbreak control and rational antimicrobial use.