Study shows COVID-19 can be identified via a non-invasive breath test and produce results rapidly

COVID-19 can be identified via a non-invasive breath test and produce results rapidly, according to Loughborough University’s study.

The consortium’s research team, working with partners at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Germany’s Klinikum Dortmund Hospital and Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS), has identified candidate biomarkers present in the breath of a COVID-19 infected person.

The team have demonstrated how these ‘breath signatures’ can be utilised to swiftly identify COVID-19 without the need for laboratory support by using technologies developed by G.A.S GmbH during the TOXI-Triage project.

The feasibility study involved 98 patients, of whom thirty-one had COVID-19. Other diagnoses included viral pneumonia, cardiac conditions, asthma, exacerbation of asthma and COPD. From the samples provided, the team used Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) and Gas Chromatography (GC) to identify and diagnose COVID-19 – published in the Diagnosis of COVID-19 by analysis of breath with gas chromatography ion-mobility spectrometry – a feasibility study in the Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine journal.

For volatile organic compounds analysis by GC-IMS, participants gave a single breath sample, which detected aldehydes, methanol and ketones that distinguished COVID-19 from other conditions.

Professor of Analytical Science, Loughborough’s Department of Chemistry, Paul Thomas, stated: “We are hugely encouraged by these findings. Employing tried and tested techniques used during the TOXI-Triage project suggests that COVID-19 may be rapidly distinguished from other respiratory conditions. To develop this technique further larger studies are required, together with complementary GC-MS studies to build on the data collected so far. If shown to be reliable, it offers the possibility for rapid identification or exclusion of COVID-19 in emergency departments or primary care that will protect healthcare staff, improve the management of patients and reduce the spread of COVID-19.”

Santi Dominguez, the CEO, stated: “The IMSPEX Group is very pleased that our groundbreaking technology has delivered these exciting results. What will be needed now will be to rapidly acquire more data to continue to develop the test and institutional and investor support to scale our manufacturing capability.