Breathe into your suitcase: US approves first COVID-19 breath test

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use approval for the first breath-based test for COVID-19. Its accuracy exceeds 90%.

The device, developed by InspectIR, looks like a small suitcase with wheels and a tube to breathe into. Samples are analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The result is displayed on the screen after three minutes.

The device itself does not detect the presence of specific virus particles. Instead, it reveals patterns of volatile organic compounds that have been found to be consistent with SARS-CoV-2 infection and confirm COVID-19.

The FDA said in a statement that the authorization for use was based on the results of a large study that included almost 2,500 people. It showed that the test system was 91.2% accurate in detecting positive cases of COVID-19 and 99.3% accurate in confirming negative ones.

The creators of the device admit that at this point in time, their product is unlikely to change the rules of the game in the real world. The system must be used by trained operators under the supervision of medical professionals. Yes, and you can’t call it especially portable yet.

Production in the coming months will be very limited. The company reports the ability to produce only about 100 units per week. At the same time, one installation is capable of processing about 160 samples per day.

Other similar systems have not yet become widespread, but they exist and are also being actively developed. So, February is a very compact solution using Raman spectroscopy showed a group of researchers from Singapore. Also clinical trials now passes a small tester from scientists from Australia.