{"id":1193,"date":"2013-01-11T01:41:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T01:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2013\/01\/lung-infection-breath-test-discovery\/"},"modified":"2013-01-11T01:41:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-11T01:41:00","slug":"lung-infection-breath-test-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/01\/11\/lung-infection-breath-test-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Lung infection breath test discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PatientA patient having his breath sampled and analysed<\/span><\/div>\n

Identifying the “smell” of different types of lung bacteria could lead to a simple breath test to diagnose infections, a study on mice, in the Journal of Breath Research, suggests.<\/p>\n

Breath analysis could reduce lung infection diagnosis times from weeks to minutes, the Vermont researchers said.<\/p>\n

Scientists have already researched breath tests to diagnose asthma and cancer.<\/p>\n

An expert said breath analysis was “an important and emerging field”.<\/p>\n

Diagnosing bacterial infections traditionally means collecting a sample that is used to grow bacteria in the lab. This bacteria is then tested to classify it and see how it responds to antibiotics, which can take time.<\/p>\n

Doctors see breath analysis, in contrast, as a fast and non-invasive method of diagnosing diseases.<\/p>\n

For the study<\/a>, researchers from the University of Vermont analysed volatile organic compounds (VOCs) given off in exhaled breath by different bacteria as well as different strains of the same bacterium.<\/p>\n

They infected mice with two bacteria that are both common in lung infections – Pseudomonas aeruginosa<\/em> and Staphylococcus aureus<\/em> – and sampled their breath after 24 hours.<\/p>\n

‘Useful tool’<\/span><\/p>\n

The compounds in their breath were analysed using a technique called secondary electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (SESI-MS), which is capable of detecting extremely small elements of the chemicals present in their breath.<\/p>\n

The researchers said they found a “statistically significant” difference between the breath profiles of the mice infected with the bacteria and the mice that were uninfected.<\/p>\n

They also said they were able to differentiate between two species of bacteria and two different strains of the same P. aeruginosa<\/em> bacterium.<\/p>\n

But Jane Hill, co-author of the study, from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, said there were still some challenges to overcome with “breath-prints”.<\/p>\n

“We are now collaborating with colleagues to sample patients in order to demonstrate the strengths, as well as limitations, of breath analysis more comprehensively,” she said.<\/p>\n

Richard Hubbard, professor of respiratory epidemiology at Nottingham City Hospital and a spokesman for the British Lung Foundation, said breath analysis was already being used to diagnose children with asthma.<\/p>\n

“Breath analysis is an emerging field and is likely to take off across the board. It could be a very useful tool for children with cystic fibrosis, for example, as a guide on how to treat them,” he said.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A patient having his breath sampled and analysed Identifying the “smell” of different types of lung bacteria could lead to a simple breath test to diagnose infections, a study on mice, in the Journal of Breath Research, suggests. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}