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It will be especially useful for mass screening.
Trials of a new Covid-19 breath test in the UAE has opened up the possibility of detecting the virus within seconds rather than hours.
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The Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU), Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Breathonix Pte Ltd are currently carrying out a joint clinical trial to assess the accuracy of the easy-to-use breath test.
The test gives results in 60 seconds.
The trials are being conducted at the DHA’s Nadd Al Hamar primary health care centre for 2,500 patients.
This is the technology that’s used: A person needs to blow into a disposable mouthpiece connected to a high-precision breath sampler. The exhaled breath is collected into a breath sampler and fed into a cutting-edge mass spectrometer for measurement. A machine learning software analyses the volatile organic compound (VOC) profile and generates the result in less than a minute.
“The whole process of breath collection to diagnosis takes less than a minute,” announced the DHA on Saturday, March 13. The authority hopes that the technology will significantly reduce the burden on laboratory processing.
“It will drastically reduce the time taken to get the results, in comparison to the presently available testing methods such as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test,” said Dr Nada Al Mulla, director of the DHA’s Nadd Al Hamar Primary Healthcare Sector. “The breath test for screening Covid-19 is highly efficient for mass screening, especially in areas of high (density).”
Breathonix, a spin-off company of the National University of Singapore (NUS), has developed the test. The company previously conducted a Singapore-based pilot study that involved 180 patients and achieved a sensitivity of 93 per cent and specificity of 95 per cent with machine learning algorithm.
Dr Hussain Al Samt, Director of Pathology and Genetics Department at the DHA, explained, “The technology can drastically improve diagnostics and care for Covid-19 patients. This kind of rapid diagnosis has a potential to be a game-changer in the global fight against Covid-19.”
Dhanusha Gokulan
Originally from India, Dhanusha Gokulan has been working as a journalist for 10 years. She has a keen interest in writing about issues that plague the common person and will never turn down a human interest story. She completed her Bachelor in Arts in Journalism, Economics and English Literature from Mangalore University in 2008. In her spare time, she dabbles with some singing/songwriting, loves travelling and Audible is her favourite mobile application. Tweet at her @wordjunkie88
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