Coronavirus breathalyzer

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This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2023)

A coronavirus breathalyzer is a diagnostic medical device enabling the user to test with 90% or greater accuracy the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in an exhaled breath.^[1] As of the first half of 2020, the idea of a practical coronavirus breathalyzer was concomitantly developed by unrelated research groups in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, United Kingdom and USA.^[2][3]

People with COVID-19 have higher levels of aldehydes, compounds produced when cells or tissues are damaged by inflammation, and ketones, which fits with research suggesting that the virus may damage the pancreas and cause ketosis. Diagnostics researchers hope to find the components in exhaled air that are truly characteristic of a disease and develop more specific sensors for them, This is done by studying breath samples using sensors in parallel with mass spectrometry analyses.^[4]

Different diseases may cause similar breath changes. Diet can affect the chemicals someone exhales, as can smoking, alcohol consumption and medicines.^{[citation needed]}