FDA Approved A Covid 19 Breath Test
The New Way of Covid Testing
“Covid Testing Centre” by Tim Dennell is marked with CC BY-NC 2.0.
Taking a Covid test to ensure that you don’t have it is very annoying. The doctors have to stick a swab up your nose, and it feels like they are tickling your brain, which doesn’t feel necessary. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just approved a breath test for Covid-19. All you have to do is breathe into a tube and you are done.
How It Works
This test uses a detection device called InspectIR which uses disposable paper straws to conduct the test. To take the test, you blow on the paper straw. Once you blow on the straw it gets put in a sample analysis tray to determine if you have Covid or not. The science behind this is somewhat complicated. The air that the patient blew into the straw is vaporized. The vaporized air gets beamed with high-energy electrons which breaks it into smaller molecules that get analyzed. The scientists compare the smaller molecules mass to charge ratio which then determines if you have Covid.
Places That You Might Find A Breath Test
You may think that it would be a good idea to order one of these breath testers online but sadly, you can’t. You would need to hire a scientist to go with it because they need to analyze the breath. The places that you would find a breath test are in medical places like doctors, nursing homes, and hospitals.
Does It Work
There was a science experiment that had 2400 people use this breath test and it accurately detected 91.2% of cases, which is pretty good for a new type of test. So if you are thinking that it might not work, then you should not worry too much.
Conclusion
There is always room for improvement with things like this for example, most normal Covid tests are about 100% accurate meaning that if you need to go somewhere I would recommend taking the normal test unless you are in a rush. It is still cool to think about the next time that you take a test, It might just be a breath test.
RELATED STORIES
https://interestingengineering.com/fda-first-breath-test-covid-19
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-authorizes-first-covid-19-breath-test-rcna24497
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/04/15/inspectir-breathalyzer-test-covid/
https://www.cnet.com/health/farewell-swabs-how-a-new-covid-breath-test-gives-results-in-3-minutes/
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