Breathonix, a medical equipment manufacturing company based in Singapore, has developed a breath test that detects Coronavirus in less than sixty seconds.
Touted as a game-changing technology in containing the spread of COVID-19 disease, the breath test successfully detects positive Coronavirus cases with more than 90% accuracy.
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Contrary to the standard Coronavirus test which involves collecting swab samples from the nasal cavity and diagnosis using the PCR technique, Breathonix’s revolutionary breath test is an easy-to-use machine, which is equally simple to administer.
In order to avoid cross-contamination and prevent saliva from entering the machine, Breathonix uses a disposable mouthpiece that has a one-way valve and saliva trap.
Breathonix’s breath test requires an individual to blow into a disposable mouthpiece attached with a highly accurate breath sampler. The collected breath is supplied to a mass spectrometer for measurement after which a machine learning software produces the Coronavirus test result by detecting Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the breath sample.
VOCs are continuously produced by different biochemical reactions in human cells. Various diseases cause these compounds to mutate in a specific way, resulting in detectable changes in a person’s breath. For that reason, VOCs can be used to detect the presence of diseases like COVID-19.
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Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Breathonix, Dr. Jia Zhunan, has said:
Our breath test is easy to administer, and it does not require specially-trained staff or laboratory processing. Results are generated in real-time, making it an attractive solution for mass screening, especially in areas with high human traffic. We believe our breath analysis platform shows promise in changing the tides of this pandemic.
Breathonix was founded by two National University of Singapore (NUS) graduates Dr. Jia and Dr. Du Fang. The company is financially supported by the NUS Graduate Research Innovation Program (GRIP), a scheme that encourages the NUS graduates to establish and run high potential start-ups based on different technologies.
