YORK, Pa. — The FDA recently granted emergency use authorization to a new COVID-19 test that can detect infections with only a sample of a patient's breath.
With InspectIR, patients can have results within three minutes, as well. Health experts say this is a step towards getting COVID-19 under control.
“As I understand, it’s using a gas chromatograph, looking for the virus particles, and detecting the chromatography," Dr. John Goldman, an infectious disease expert at UPMC, said.
In a study of 2,409 people who had and didn’t have COVID-19 symptoms, the FDA said the device was able to spot 91.2% of cases and yielded false positives in only 0.7% of results.
“It’s extremely accurate, 91% sensitive, which means if you test 100 people who have COVID-19, 91% come up positive, and if you test nearly 100% specificity, meaning if you test 100 people without COVID-19, almost all of them come up negative," Dr. Goldman said.
The agency says that for now, the InspectIR COVID-19 breathalyzer will only be available for tests provided by a qualified, trained operator under the supervision of a health care provider.
“The better testing, the better treatment, the less likely chance of having people die, and the less likely we are to have health care systems overwhelmed," Dr. Goldman said.
The company is hoping to produce roughly 100 test devices per week.