With millions of Americans testing for COVID-19 every day, some struggle with long waits for results.
But now, researchers say there is a much easier and faster way to test the virus and that it is just under the nose.
“You scratch it, you smell it, and then you can pick those different windows and choose which one,” said Derek Toomre, Ph.D., a professor at Yale University School of Medicine.
Toomre is part of U-Smell-It, a team that created an app to delete it to help determine if someone has COVID-19 through their sense of smell.
“You’ll see how good your sense of smell is, and if you do it really well, you’ll pass,” Toomre said. “And if you don’t, they’ll say, ‘Hey, you’ve lifted something.'”
Although less accurate than a COVID-19 diagnostic test, this product is much faster and less expensive. With results available in less than a minute and cards costing 50 cents per cent, scientists say this odor app could outperform traditional testing at a fraction of the price.
“We all know the idea of testing fever as a way to find people who have COVID,” said Roy Parker, Ph.D. professor of biochemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “But that hasn’t worked very well.”
Parker says that with only about 20% of people with COVID-19 suffering from fever, compared to 80% of people with COVID-19 who have an odor loss, an odor test is a much better indicator. of COVID-19 infection than a temperature control. .
“It would make a big difference because it would identify people who have COVID, but have such mild symptoms that they don’t know it and are walking around potentially infecting other people and their family,” Park said.
Although commercially available, U-Smell-It is seeking FDA emergency approval with the goal of getting its letters scratched and sniffed in people’s hands and under their noses so quickly. as possible.
“I can see people saying,‘ Hey, that’s not serious, ’and it’s okay, don’t take it seriously,” Toomre said. “We try to do it and see if it works. And if you can’t smell that test and it says, “Hey, there’s something going on” well, you know, you should isolate yourself and check it out.