Colorimetry-Based Detection of Biomarkers in Exhaled Breath for Predicting COVID-19 Disease

Abstract

Exhaled breath is the biological medium that carries relevant medical information and can be used to analyse biomarkers characteristic for detecting abnormal health status. Thus, by systematically analysing the interaction mechanism of the coronavirus with the human cell and its effect on the biological activity, it is possible to indentify the compounds whose proportion in the exhale breath is affected. One such biomarkers are hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitric oxide (NO), which represents oxidative stress in the body. The present study represents the colorimetry based quantification of H2O2 and NO using KMnO4 and m-cresol purple dye, respectively. The dyes exhibited 0.01 ppm limit of detection (LOD) for H2O2 and LOD of 0.02 ppm was estimated for NO. Moreover, dyes apprehended high degree of selectivity towards other bio-compounds present in the breath. The colorimetry sensor is best suited for quantifying oxidative stress in the body, which is one of the indicator of coronavirus infection. Thus, the sensor offers rapid point-of-detection for predicting COVID-19 infection in human body.