This New Device Can Test For Coronavirus Quickly Through People's Breath

Scientists have come up with a technology to speed up the diagnosis process for the coronavirus and can be implemented at airports, pharmacies, ambulances, and GP surgeries.

Specifically, scientists from Northumbria University say that they will need further testing for the new device but it could be the revolution in how we diagnose the coronavirus infection as well as other diseases.

Airports are currently using temperature tests for monitoring incoming travelers to detect the signs of the virus. Meanwhile, in the UK, clinicians take throat, nose, and deeper respiratory samples, send them to a PHE laboratory, which will return the result in the same working day.

But with the new technology, the scientists say that we could test for the coronavirus in a faster, non-invasive manner by having patients breathe into the device.

According to Dr. Sterghio Moschos, who leads the development of the new tech, just temperature monitoring at airports is not enough to test for COVID-19. He added that WHO currently recommends testing oral swabs, nasal swabs, as well as swabs from the lungs so that we won’t miss the infection. And that’s the reason why there needs to be a non-invasive, quick, affordable test for diagnosis and screening.

Experts say that the technology can significantly affect healthcare worldwide and could also help with diagnoses for other respiratory illnesses such as aging diseases, brain diseases, cancers, diabetes, liver issues, and lung diseases.

To diagnose, the device picks up biomarkers, which is biological info from a person’s breath sample, that can illustrate the disease. If the sample has biomarkers like RNA, DNA, lipids, and proteins, this means the person’s lung may have been infected with the disease.

Existing diagnosis systems using breath samples are not reliable enough because of sample loss, variability, and contamination. But these issues are all worked out with the new device so that the data obtained closely resembles that taken from lung samples that are taken surgically.

But the ultimate purpose is to avoid bloodletting to diagnose. And to achieve that, we need a standardized, reliable approach for diagnoses outside the lab. Hopefully, scientists will soon complete this technology to use in public.

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