In Lyon, scientists from the Institute for Research on Catalysis and the Environment of Lyon, the Institute of Analytical Sciences and the International Center for Infectious Disease Research are currently carrying out a clinical study to test the capacity of a method. screening for Covid-19 using breath. Passeport Santé tells you more about this new technology.
A new method for detecting Covid-19 currently under study in Lyon
A Lyon consortium is working on the validation of a new method for detecting Covid-19. This is a method involving the characterization of molecules present in the exhaled air (by the breath). Indeed, as we can read in a press release published on March 30, “ Following the first tests carried out in the departments dedicated to COVID-19 patients at the Croix Rousse hospital in Lyon in 2020, a clinical study called COVIDAir is now being implemented by the Hospices Civils de Lyon, to test the capacity (sensitivity) of this new technology, to detect people sick with COVID-19, compared to the reference technique (RT-PCR) on a nasopharyngeal sample “. To do this, a new device has been installed since the beginning of March in the screening center of the Palais des Sports in Gerland.
How it works ?
The device in question is an instrument, as large as a refrigerator, which identifies and quantifies the gas molecules present in an air sample. In other words, it allows in the same way as a breathalyzer, to detect the physiological state of a person. Scientists have thus developed a specific signature of the Covid-19 infection as they explain in the press release: ” Thanks to the breaths analyzed in hospitalized patients, the specific signature of the COVID-19 infection was found and integrated into a software allowing to have a rapid result in a few tens of seconds. “.
A new Covid-19 screening tool, but not only …
This new immediate, non-invasive and precise method of detecting the disease raises the hope (if the technology proves to be effective) of being deployed on a large scale in all places requiring rapid diagnosis (such as airports, theaters). performance…), while reinforcing the testing systems already in place. But beyond Covid-19, this technology could open a new field for the screening of other respiratory pathologies such as influenza. In addition, researchers are already thinking of transposing the concept to other diseases such as legionellosis or cancer.
