Neither swab to take the nasopharyngeal sample, nor screening plate. Will we soon be able to know if we have the Covid by blowing into a straw? The US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued emergency use authorization for the first device capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2 in breath samples.
The InspectIR company has developed a portable mass spectrometer – like a breathalyzer – that can screen for the coronavirus in less than three minutes in molecules blown by the mouth. According to the FDA, which cross-checked material provided by the company, the device is 91.2% accurate at identifying positive test samples and 99.3% accurate at identifying negative test samples.
160 samples per day
In comparison, the reliability of PCR tests, in the laboratory, is estimated at 90%. Inspect IR’s innovation is “another example of rapid innovation in Covid-19 diagnostic testing,” said Dr. Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
The carry-on sized case can be used in medical practices, hospitals and mobile testing sites to evaluate 160 samples per day. The American company plans to manufacture one hundred per week. The firm ensures that it does not have to use solvents, does not have to store biological material, therefore does not have to recycle or throw it away, with the exception of single-use straws.
An Israeli start-up, NanoScent, has developed an equivalent principle, making it possible to analyze the specific odors developed by carriers of the virus. Preliminary tests gave a result of around 85% accuracy.