Researchers from Zeteo Tech biotechnological company (USA) have created a method of rapid diagnosis of respiratory infection, with the help of human breathing. Their respective study was published in the scientific journal PNAS Nexus.

Today, infections of the lower respiratory tract—bronchitis and pneumonia—are diagnosed by means of bacteria that are taken from the patient's body. This intervention, however, is labor-intensive and takes a long time. In addition, molecular sequencing methods cannot distinguish a clinical infection from a normal accumulation of benign bacteria.

The aforesaid research team developed a medical device that measures the protease activity of human neutrophil elastase in breath.

The release of excess neutrophil proteases is a result of lower respiratory tract infections.

The researchers tested this system on clinical breathing samples of intubated patients, as well as on a group of healthy volunteers.

The platform measured human neutrophil elastase levels in patients diagnosed with confirmed lower respiratory tract infections.

According to the researchers, the results point to the possibility of developing a diagnostic tool to detect lower respiratory tract infections based on breathing studies, which could be particularly useful for intubated patients at intensive care units.