London: Electronic devices may soon be utilized, to identify the presence of infection in a crowded space, using body odor profiles, after scientists in the UK have tested a so-called ‘COVID alarm’. Initial studies by scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Durham University show that COVID-19 infection has a different smell, resulting from changes in the volatile organic compounds (VOC) which make up the body odor creating an odor “fingerprint” that the sensors can identify.
Led by researchers from the LSHTM and biotech company RoboScientific Ltd with Durham University, the study tested tools with organic semiconducting (OSC) sensors, which could possibly be used as a Covid-19 screening device. These results are really encouraging and illustrate the potential for using this technology as an active, non-invasive test with unbelievable precision. However, further testing is needed to confirm if these results can be replicated in real-world settings, said Professor James Logan, Head of the Department of Disease Control at LSHTM, who led the study.
Professor said that if these devices are successfully developed for use in public places, they could be affordably and easily scaled up. They also could shield people against future disease outbreaks, with the capacity to develop sensor arrays to identify other diseases within a number of weeks.
The pre-print study, which is not yet peer-reviewed, used body odor samples from socks worn and provided to the team by 54 individuals, including 27 Covid-19 positive individuals who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and 27 uninfected individuals. These specimens were analyzed by RoboScientific’s Model 307B VOC analyzer provided with a pattern of 12 OSC sensors. The specimens were obtained as part of a wider study led by LSHTM, in collaboration with Medical Detection Dogs and Durham University. The OSC sensors captured the odor profile of the samples, having been attuned to be sensitive to the VOCs associated with COVID-19 infection, primarily ketone, and aldehyde compounds.
‘Many diseases have a distinct smell associated with them. We started our research with a blank sheet of paper and asked the question: Does Covid-19 have a distinct smell?’, explained Professor Steve Lindsay, from the Department of Biosciences at Durham University. ‘We ended the research showing a clear separation between the odors of people infected with the virus and those uninfected. Covid most definitely has a very distinct smell. This is real discovery science and very exciting for the development of screening methods for the disease’, he said.
Across two days of examining the samples, the researchers found the sensors were able to differentiate between infected and uninfected samples, proving that SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) infection has a distinct odor. On the first day of testing, they gained an average of 98 percent specificity (meaning a low risk of false-positive results) and an average of 99 percent sensitivity (meaning a low risk of false-negative results). On the second day of testing, the sensors gained 100 percent sensitivity and specificity, proposing that they can identify the presence of Covid-19 infection more precisely than any other diagnostic test available.
RoboScientific, the Cambridgeshire-based start-up, is examining the potential of two types of devices underpinned by these findings to facilitate fully automated Covid-19 screening; a portable handheld device and a room-based device. The device, formed from RoboScientific’s existing technology for early disease discovery, could detect if a person is Covid-19 positive from their body odor. If used in public spaces, these devices could be used in place of PCR and LFT testing as a faster, less invasive diagnostic to notify an individual whether they are infected and wanted to self-isolate. They can be used with a separate air sampler or individual breath or mask samples.
Stan Curtis, CEO of RoboScientific, said: ‘Our experience in consumer electronics, coupled with five years developing our unique sensors for agricultural applications, has enabled us to create a new way of sensing VOCs. Our disease detection platform can provide fast accurate screening for diseases so that we will be ready if/when the next pandemic arrives.’
The device could be used to screen areas such as classrooms or aircraft cabins to recognize if an infected individual is in the room, with air analysis results within an expected 30 minutes. If Covid-19 positive odor is recognized, all those in the room would need to be individually tested to discover who was infected as the device would only recognize the presence of infection, not who is infected.
Therefore, it would not be designed to replace PCR [Polymerase chain reaction] or LFT [Lateral Flow Test] testing, but rather for use alongside these policies to allow more targeted testing, saving money and time, and decreasing onward transmission. These devices were developed by readjusting the technology previously used in chicken houses to recognize the disease in flocks of up to 50,000 chickens, using well-proven sampling methods and analysis.
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