Breath test for COVID-19 provides almost instant results

Working with partners at Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) specialists IMSPEX Group, plus the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Germany’s Klinikum Dortmund Hospital, the consortium’s research team has identified candidate biomarkers present in the breath of someone affected by Covid-19.

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Utilising technologies developed by G.A.S.GmbH during the TOXI-Triage project, the team has demonstrated how these ‘breath signatures’ can be used to rapidly distinguish Covid-19 from other respiratory conditions at point of need without laboratory support.

Ninety-eight patients were recruited for the feasibility study, of whom 31 had Covid-19. Other diagnoses included asthma, exacerbation of asthma and COPD, viral pneumonia, other respiratory tract infections, and cardiac conditions. The team used Gas Chromatography (GC) and Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) to identify and diagnose Covid-19 from the samples.

Participants gave a single breath-sample for volatile organic compounds analysis by GC-IMS, which identified aldehydes (ethanal, octanal), ketones (acetone, butanone), and methanol that discriminated COVID-19 from other conditions.