Breath Biomarkers as Disease Indicators: Sensing Techniques Approach for Detecting Breath Gas and COVID-19
Zoltan-Mihály Török, Arthur Frederic Blaser, Kiana Kavianynejad, Carlos Gonzalo Moya Gual de Torrella, Lawrence Nsubuga, Yogendra Kumar Mishra, Horst‐Günter Rubahn, Roana de Oliveira Hansen
Abstract
Extensive research shows that there is a close correlation between a disease diagnostic and the patient’s exhale breath gas composition. It has been demonstrated, for example, that patients with a diabetes diagnosis have a certain level of acetone fume in their exhale breath. Actually, symptoms from many other diseases could be easily diagnosed if appropriate and reliable gas sensing technologies are available. The COVID-19 pandemic has created demand for a cheap and quick screening tool for the disease, where breath biomarker screening could be a very promising approach. It has been shown that COVID-19 patients potentially present a simultaneous increase in ethanal (acetaldehyde) and acetone in their exhale breath. In this paper, we explore two different sensing approaches to detect ethanal/acetone, namely by colorimetric markers, which could for example be integrated into facemasks, and by a breathalyzer containing a functionalized quartz crystal microbalance. Both approaches can successfully detect the presence of a biomarker gas on a person’s breath and this could potentially revolutionize the future of healthcare in terms of non-invasive and early-stage detection of various diseases.