COLUMBUS – Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are exploring the use of a breath test for COVID-19, which could replace the nasal swab and return results far more quickly.
“The gold standard for diagnosis of COVID-19 is a PCR test that requires an uncomfortable nasal swab and time in a lab to process the sample and obtain the results,” said Dr. Matthew Exline, lead researcher, director of critical care at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center University Hospital and professor of internal medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
The initial study found the test is highly accurate in identifying COVID-19 infections in critically ill patients and future studies will look at the use of this technology for less severe COVID-19 patients
“The breathalyzer test used in our study can detect COVID-19 within seconds,” Exline said.
COVID-19 infection produces a distinct breath print from the interaction of oxygen, nitric oxide and ammonia and the breath test can detect the breath print of COVID-19 within 15 seconds.
The research team has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization of the technology.