Researchers Develop Compact Breathalyzer That Detects the Flu (digitaltrends.com)

Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington have created a prototype breathalyzer-style device capable of detecting the influenza virus in its early stages -- before you start to show symptoms. "What I have created -- together with my research team and research collaborators working on this project -- is a single exhale, portable, handheld, potentially wireless, battery-operated, inexpensive, breathalyzer that relies on gas-selective sensing elements, and which detects the presence and monitors the concentration of biomarkers in breath that signal a disease," Perena Gouma, a professor in the university's Materials Science and Engineering Department, told Digital Trends. From the report: The specific biomarkers the breathalyzer looks for include traces of nitric oxide and ammonia, both of which can be measured using smart sensors. "This particular breathalyzer detects flu virus infection," she continued. "This is expected to be a personalized diagnostics tool available over the counter and it will allow the individuals to monitor their health, with the option of sharing the data obtained with their physician in real time." Gouma has previously developed other breathalyzers, for everything from asthma detection and diabetes monitoring to determining an endpoint for hemodialysis, the process of filtering waste products from the blood. The neat thing about breathalyzers, Gouma said, is that the technology involved can be easily modified to detect different diseases simply by changing the sensors. In this example, for instance, it could be upgraded to instead test for Ebola. As for when this technology may be available, Gouma said the team needs to carry out clinical trials, "but we are already exploring our options for commercializing this tool."

Comments

Shades of Theranos

[gurps_npc]

Until they have a peer reviewed article, this is just vaporware almost identical to the product claimed by failed Theranos.

this is a whole field

[Goldsmith]

Using gas from exhaled breath to detect disease is a whole medical field that the people running this study are evidently unaware of (none of them have a medical background). If diagnosing influenza was as easy as detecting nitric oxide and ammonia in breath, we would already have this. The problem is that almost anything wrong with you causes you to exhale nitric oxide and ammonia. The real state of the art in this field looks at dozens of markers simultaneously to correct for common background effects (i.e. air pollution, your metabolism, what you had for lunch...). Handheld detectors for this stuff are all over the place.

There's a wikipedia article for "Exhaled Nitric Oxide" that goes over some of these things. This study was funded by NSF? Why? If you can Google your research question and find the answer dozens of times over, you don't need to waste some poor grad student's time for 2-3 years to get the answer yet again.

during out-breaks

[DrYak]

Does he expect me to just test every morning when I get up from bed?

not every morning, and not everyone.
but if the technology can become cheap enough, some at risk situations could be monitored (non vaccined people, who are in contact with lots of others, when there's an active outbreak around).

and there's an immense benefits in detecting early:
- have the currently not yet symptomatic sick stay at home to avoid spreading it further (with most viruses, including influenza, you could be transmitting before you start feeling symptoms).
- treat it with specific anti-virals (for influenza: the sooner you start, the better the chances of it being effective. starting more than 48h after the onset of symptoms won't make much a difference - you'll still be dick. being able to begin therapy before even the symptoms starts will surely reduce the impact of the flu)
thus, if such a tchnology works, you could replace "laying in bed for 1 week" by "working from home for a couple of days" (a lot better quality of time)
and from an employer's perspective, it means that 1 sick guy wont contaminate your whole company (a lot less lost days)
(of course, for that you need a technology that is precise enough. i somewhat feel that if the analysis is limited to few gazes mentioned, it might tire of too many false alerts).