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Use of Breath Analysis for Diagnosing COVID-19: Opportunities, Challenges, and Considerations for Future Pandemic Responses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2021

Mustafa Abumeeiz ,
Lauren Elliott Open the ORCID record for Lauren Elliott [Opens in a new window]  and
Phillip Olla
Mustafa Abumeeiz
Affiliation:
Audacia Bioscience, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Lauren Elliott*
Affiliation:
Audacia Bioscience, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Phillip Olla
Affiliation:
Audacia Bioscience, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
*
Corresponding author: Lauren Elliott, Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there is currently a need for accurate, rapid, and easy-to-administer diagnostic tools to help communities manage local outbreaks and assess the spread of disease. The use of artificial intelligence within the domain of breath analysis techniques has shown to have potential in diagnosing a variety of diseases, such as cancer and lung disease, by analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath. This combined with their rapid, easy-to-use, and noninvasive nature makes them a good candidate for use in diagnosing COVID-19 in large scale public health operations. However, there remains issues with their implementation when it comes to the infrastructure currently available to support their use on a broad scale. This includes issues of standardization, and whether or not a characteristic VOC pattern can be identified for COVID-19. Despite these difficulties, breathalyzers offer potential to assist in pandemic responses and their use should be investigated.

Keywords

volatile organic compoundsCOVID-19technologypublic healthpandemicefficacy
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 16 , Issue 5 , October 2022 , pp. 2137 - 2140
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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