Experts Develop Breathalyser For Easy Virus Testing, But Can Breath-Based Tester Detect COVID-19 Accurately?

COVID-19 testing had been a part of the 'new normal' in the midst of the pandemic. The testings are included in almost every establishment's routine, and both the citizens and experts benefit from the protocol. The coronavirus testing is applicable not only to patients with symptoms but to medical frontliners, too.

COVID-19 testing is essential to control the increasing rate of the infected population. To prevent people from contacting others, procedures such as quarantine isolation are being followed, and these public safety protocols are not possible without the testing phase to confirm positive and negative cases.

COVID-19 Testing: Breath-Based vs Swab Test

woman-in-black-shirt-and-face-mask-4056206 — Engin Akyurt / Pexels

Testing for coronavirus, on the other hand, has its cons. The most used method on COVID-19 testing is through nostril and tonsil swabbing. This method is proven effective in identifying infected people but is invasive and even hurtful for most. Penetrating the nose and mouth causes irritation to some, pushing them to sneeze and gag. With that said, medical experts are pressured to find a way for a non-invasive, convenient, and faster way of testing COVID-19.

Breathomix, a Dutch medical company, developed a breath-based COVID-19 testing method called SpiroNose. The device, which scales to a water bottle, can analyze chemical compounds in the subject's breath. Through the examination, coronavirus can be detected easily.

SpiroNose, which was developed by Breathomix, is just one of the new COVID-19 testing kits being developed all over the globe. Recently, Singapore's national health authority had given approval for two testing kits released by Breathomic and Silver Factory Technology, The Seattle Times reports.

The Ohio State University experts also have a currently pending application of their own breath-based tester, also known as breathalyzers, to the US Food and Drug Administration's authorization.

Breathalyzers, Breathprints, and False Positives

Breathalyzers had been proven effective in detecting COVID-19. According to the preprint study published in the journal medRxiv entitled "Ruling out SARS-CoV-2 infection using exhaled breath analysis by electronic nose in a public health setting," breath-based devices have the possibility to help medical authorities test people for the infection. Examinations had been conducted with breathalyzers long before the pandemic to detect respiratory infections. The device is also used to track a rare disease that is found in children called the multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C.

However, breathalyzers, like many other testing methods, have their own disadvantage. Breath composition can be influenced by foreign chemicals, smoking, diet, and alcohol consumption. These factors may dictate the results of breath-based testing. Fortunately, with the advances in machine learning and sensor technology, researchers are able to progress on developing breathalyzers.

Breathprints are among the key factors that make the breath-based COVID-19 testing seemingly impossible to conduct. But thanks to modern technology, the medical community is able to sort and point out the unique breathprints from different samples. These breathing samples include traces of conditions including cancer, asthma, and other diseases.

Not all breathalyzers are 100 percent precise in detecting COVID-19. Some of the earlier studies showed inconsistent data from experiments. Others are not able to detect the virus, and a few were tagged with false-positive results. The margin of error is still big, especially with cases that were caused by user error, but researchers are still in pursuit of the most effective breath-based COVID-19 tester, reports Science Magazine.