An infectious disease is an illness caused by a pathogen or its toxic product, which arises through transmission from an infected person, infected animals, or contaminated object to a host. Infectious diseases are responsible for a huge global burden of disease that impacts public health systems and economies worldwide, especially affecting vulnerable populations. Lower respiratory tract infections, diarrheal diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis are among the top causes of overall global mortality.
Exhaled breath contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have originated from many metabolic processes throughout the body. Research has indicated that VOCs present in breath are associated with infectious diseases, and therefore show promise as non-invasive biomarkers. Pathogenic microbes can alter the VOCs in breath either through altered metabolic pathways due to the host immune response, or with certain pathogens like bacteria and fungi, their own endogenous metabolic processes. VOCs originating from infection sites all over the body can be exchanged from the bloodstream into the air in the lungs at the alveolar membrane and exhaled in breath.
Some infectious diseases predominantly affect the lungs and other tissues in the respiratory tract such as the nose and throat. As breath is in direct contact with these tissues, analysis of breath can provide a better insight into local respiratory diseases as opposed to blood or urine which are more indirect. Biomarkers of infectious diseases are often investigated in clinical settings using invasive techniques, such as blood tests. Exhaled breath offers a unique roster of potential biomarkers arising from an infection and can be collected completely non-invasively. This makes breath an advantageous biomarker matrix to study in comparison to more expensive, more invasively acquired samples that are difficult to tolerate.
Case Studies
A detailed look at some of the research studies investigating biomarkers for infectious diseases.
Breath VOC biomarkers for infectious diseases
Breath Analysis for C. diff Infection Diagnosis
PARTNERS
We’re working on infectious diseases with these groups:
FURTHER READING
Other recommended reading:
- NEWS: Owlstone Medical secures $6.5 million to support development of breath-based diagnostics for infectious disease.
- ARTICLE: Breath analysis – revolutionizing diagnosis and monitoring of cystic fibrosis.
- CASE STUDY: Advancements in breath analysis for Clostridioides difficile infection diagnosis.
- PAPER: Detection of Clostridioides difficile infection by assessment of exhaled breath volatile organic compounds.
- CASE STUDY: Breath VOC biomarkers for infectious diseases.
- POSTER: Identifying and characterizing VOCs in exhaled breath from SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals.
- VIDEO: Detection of Clostridioides difficile infection with breath analysis.
- WHITEPAPER: Breath analysis and infectious disease 101.
- CASE STUDY: Utilizing breath analysis as a diagnostic tool for viral infections in COPD patients.
- ARTICLE: Early detection of infectious disease is crucial for ensuring timely treatment and preventing further spread – could the answer lie in our breath?
- CASE STUDY: Using breath to diagnose invasive fungal diseases.
- PRESENTATION: A study to identify COVID-19 markers in exhaled breath using ion mobility spectrometry.
- VIDEO: Breath analysis and infectious diseases explained.
Blog
Articles published on our blog related to infectious diseases.
Breath Analysis and Infectious Disease 101: Everything you need to know about how breath analysis can be used in infectious disease research
