SARS-CoV-2 Breath Tests Implementation for the Rapid COVID-19 Surveillance: A Game Changer?- A Review of Existing Data

Authors

  • Alejandro Vallejo Degaudenzi 1Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Daniela M. Hernandez 1Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Daniela Hidalgo Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Elisa Contreras Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Maria L. Ceballos Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Mariel Polanco Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Máximo Reynoso Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Nicole Hernández Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Camila Marranzini Instituto de Medicina Tropical y Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, 22333, Dominican Republic
  • Robert Paulino-Ramirez Instituto de Medicina Tropical & Salud Global, Universidad Iberoamericana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31005/iajmh.v4i.198

Keywords:

COVID-19, Breath Test, Surveillance, Diagnosis, SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been spread across the globe for almost a year, causing economic, social, and psychological impacts with yet unknown dimensions. In emerging and reemerging pathogen surveillance and detection, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a classic laboratory technique that has been widely used for the amplification and identification of nucleic acids. Analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath has been long reviewed as a potential diagnostics tool for many diseases. The overall specificity for SARS-CoV-2 of these methods was a calculated 69%,30 which is a low value for reliable detection. Breath tests are not a sufficiently evidence-based approach for rapid screening and to "secure" or creating "sanctuary" regions for touristic purposes. Therefore, policy-makers must cautiously point out the importance of further evaluation and structured studies confronting gold-standards with new devices.

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Published

2022-03-23

How to Cite

Vallejo Degaudenzi, A. ., Hernandez, D. M., Hidalgo, D., Contreras, E., Ceballos, M. L. ., Polanco, M., Reynoso, M., Hernández, N., Marranzini, C., & Paulino-Ramirez, R. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 Breath Tests Implementation for the Rapid COVID-19 Surveillance: A Game Changer?- A Review of Existing Data. InterAmerican Journal of Medicine and Health, 4, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.31005/iajmh.v4i.198

Issue

Section

COVID-19 under review

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