COVID-19 infection detected in breath tests:
Traces of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can be detected in microscopically small fluid droplets exhaled during a very short time span. This is the finding of a new study from the University of Gothenburg. The measurement was carried out primarily with an advanced research instrument developed by the publishing research team.
The findings have now been published in the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. The measurements were made with the research instrument Particles in Exhaled Air (PExA), developed at Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Sahlgrenska Academy, and with a smaller handheld instrument called the Breath Explor (BE).
Infection spread with exhaled air is well known, but now the researchers show that a few breaths are sufficient for detecting traces of viruses in microscopically small fluid droplets (i.e. particles) exhaled from small airways, at least early in the course of COVID-19.
"We show that aerosol particles with the ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus can be found early in the course of COVID-19. The particles we can detect are very small-less than five micrometers in diameter-and we have here managed to capture particles with RNA virus in just a few breaths," said Emilia Viklund, a doctoral student in occupational and environmental medicine and lead author of the study.
[...] Of course, this immediately leads to conjecture about possibly replacing unpleasant nasal swab tests with convenient and easy breath tests. However, according to Professor Anna-Carin Olin, the inventor of PExA, that would be extrapolating the findings too far.
[...] "Respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are likely to be concentrated mainly in the nose and throat, and it is easiest to take samples from that mucous membrane to detect the infection," says Professor Olin. "In contrast, the method of taking measurement in exhaled air is a very promising way of studying how the virus affects the small respiratory airways and how this effect changes during the course of the disease. Among other things, we are working on studies of post-COVID conditions using this method."
Journal Reference:
Emilia Viklund, Spela Kokelj, Per Larsson, et al. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 can be detected in exhaled aerosol sampled during a few minutes of breathing or coughing [open], Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses (DOI: 10.1111/irv.12964)
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @02:39AM (2 children)
If everyone would just hold their breath for about a month, we could beat this virus.
- Joe Robinette Biden aka Boy Wonder
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @02:58AM (1 child)
You first.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @03:13AM
If you don't obey me, you ain't black!
- Joe Robinette Biden aka Boy Wonder
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @03:41AM (18 children)
For some reason this is heretical to point out on Soylent News, as is any criticism of staff leaking this info when they feel like it. Be warned, this site is not to be trusted. For details go find all the downmodded posts explaining how their "logs wiped after two weeks" is a lie, and how staff will expose AC comments when they feel like it. Do not trust this site, especially if you actually need anonymity. I do not, but I can't tolerate such deception.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @03:45AM (1 child)
arisockus "leaks" nothing - he gushes like a broken fire hydrant
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @03:47AM
I approve of this message ^
- Joe Bassinette Biden aka Boy Wonder
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday February 23 2022, @03:58AM (7 children)
You do know that Tor exists, right? Hiding your IP is not difficult.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @04:01AM
TOR has too many moving parts, someone could get some part of their anatomy stuck in it.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @06:06AM (5 children)
Yes I know, and I use it. Hilarious people think I'm aristarchus, guess we're geographically close? I'm not surprised, I'm not worried about me, but I worry about people who actually believe SN respects privacy and might post anything important while not knowing enough about digital privacy. Hell, tor is no gurantee either and I presume the 3 letters know who I am etc. I'm just sick of the hypocrisy and lies around here, was supposed to be Buck Feta not Clubhouse Meta.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @01:38PM (1 child)
People think you're aristarchus because you're about as intelligent as a bag of rocks with sperge splooge on 'em. Nobody needs to see your IP to even guess.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @10:07PM
Freedom of speech, if you don't like it you are welcome to leave.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 23 2022, @03:12PM (2 children)
Probably in the same body even.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday February 23 2022, @04:16PM
Is that what the Preacher used to call "self abuse"?
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @05:56PM
Ok Runaway ;^]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Wednesday February 23 2022, @07:15AM (4 children)
You may criticise the staff as much as you wish - but not by disrupting other threads and discussions. This is NOT your personal site.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @06:01PM (1 child)
Interesting the topics you care to engage and condemn. Nazi propaganda? Totally fine. COVID misinformation? No big deal. Point out hypocrisy? OMG EVIL SPERGBOY! Or perhaps you could just be honest? Is that really too much for you? Do you have a vested interest iying to the community and allowing staff to abuse their privileged access? Is SN a honeypot to find white supremacists that might go full terrorists? That is about the only thing that would make sense, but feels unlikely.
So why lie janri? Why get upset at people pointing out how the site works? Why defend staff that de-anonymize posts for no reason beyomd their personal whims?
PS: if you don't want offtopic posts then create a section of the site for community feedback and discussion and try being community leaders instead of tinpot dictators that rule according to their own feelings while downplaying criticisms.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday February 23 2022, @06:38PM
We have - they are called journals. Or you can always send us an email - it still works you know.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @10:09PM (1 child)
Here I thought that is what the moderation system is for. Suddenly you're ok passing judgment on comments and what is appropriate. Interesting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 24 2022, @08:21PM
Flagrant abuse of spam mod not corrected by staff. Top notch site admins! Enjoy your fiefdom.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @03:55PM (1 child)
Three words: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Seriously, get help, fucking loser.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @05:58PM
How else should site readers be informed? You can give me access to the server and I'll happily update the about pages with more accurate information.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @05:03PM
Shouldn't a website that advertises anonymous posting carry a warning at the top or bottom of the page clearly stating IP addresses of all posters anonymous or not will be logged? Why does Soylent not already do this? By the way, thanks for the info.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday February 23 2022, @04:11AM (13 children)
If we have a super-quick Covid breath test, you could very easily just put those outside of any building where people congregate, you breathe into it on your way in to keep everyone safe.
Of course, I'm guessing some of the anti-mask and anti-vax crowd will be opposed to this effort, because reasons.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Troll) by Username on Wednesday February 23 2022, @07:53AM (7 children)
Sounds like germaphobic paranoia. Covid hasn't been an issue in most of the world for awhile now.
This is like the tinfoil hat guy scanning for cellphones to protect people from 5g radiation. Sure, if you have a stint in your heart or brain, RF induction probably is an issue, but for the 99% of us, it isn't an issue. Having a tinfoil hat mandate seems equally absurd.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday February 23 2022, @03:15PM (5 children)
Aside from killing six million people and counting. Doesn't seem like one of those things that you can just ignore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @04:47PM
There must be something magical about that "6 million dead" statistic that makes a certain subset of people go "meh, not a big deal" or even "never happened".
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @04:56PM (3 children)
This isn't Jan 2021 or 2020. The epidemic has evolved as the virus and population of the world have. We are no longer in the dangerous stage. We must treat this as another disease among us. People are getting it left and right no matter their vaccination status (never, once, twice, thrice, even more) and it is a cold of a few days for the overwhelming majority now. The world must go on.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 23 2022, @05:55PM (2 children)
It's still 6700 deaths [who.int] per week at present with a mere hope that a new, more dangerous mutation doesn't come out. (Incidentally, I'm slightly in error, almost 5.9 million reported deaths globally as of present).
Except for the many people who require hospitalization or... final disposition. Certainly, repeatedly getting the disease and the continuing death rate isn't a sign to me that it's reverting to the status of a cold.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @06:31PM (1 child)
For the vast majority of people it is.
For some people, unfortunately, it is not, and COVID remains a disease that requires treatment using the best known practices and honest research into better treatments. The vaccines did not conquer COVID, and this had nothing to do with evil persons who criticized the govt's response to it. The fault lies entirely with the vaccines that do not fulfill their purpose of stopping people from catching COVID.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 24 2022, @01:20PM
If you choose not to use a weapon, then it can't conquer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @07:05PM
I cannot comprehend this response. If the proposed technology were purely about detecting who was contagious with the common cold, it would still be awesome and super useful!
(Score: 0, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @01:20PM (4 children)
COVID is generally over now. It will now just roll through the unvaccinated until they get their "natural immunity" or die. For the vaccinated, the Omnivariant is now less deadly than seasonal flu. For the unvaccinated, well, it's 1/3 Delta so they can have fun. It's their freedom now ;)
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday February 23 2022, @04:29PM
We can hope it's over now, but with everyone ditching masks and heading out to party there is a new variant of omicron, BA.2.
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @05:00PM (1 child)
Keep thinking smugly to yourself that your vaccines are so great even though everyone is catching it. The good news I suppose is that the current vaccines are so worthless that even the vaccinated will catch Covid and this may provide them with true long lasting immunity, provided the vaccines haven't destroyed their body's ability to do that. Just don't be an idiot and get a booster for these vaccines that don't even work anymore.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 24 2022, @01:28PM
Like the multiple large studies [soylentnews.org] showing a substantial decline in hospitalization rates - factor of 5 to 10 with a booster shot. Evidence trumps your feels.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @10:53PM
Long covid is still a risk, even for the vaccinated. Most people will not put their life on hold to try to avoid it. So let us hope the medical world find the causes and a cure soon.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @07:36PM (2 children)
Don't worry, masks will block those.
Wearing a mask while pumping gas, you may smell the fumes, you may smell smoke from nearby smokers, you may smell public bathroom emissions, but ...
A mask will keep much smaller Covid particles corralled and you safe.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 23 2022, @09:10PM (1 child)
Epic fail. Please try again. Smoke particles are 2.5-1000nm*. These RNA particles are around 5000nm which is 5 times the size of the largest smoke particles and 2000 times the size of the smallest smoke particles.
There are plenty of valid reasons you could cite for not wanting to wear a mask. Please choose one of those instead of making up bullshit reasons and thus making everyone who doesn't like masks look like idiots. In terms of wearing masks when pumping gas, you're both socially distant and are outside as well as aren't around others for more than a few minutes. For the vast majority of the pandemic, the official masking advice doesn't require you to wear a mask in such situations.
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7447000/ [nih.gov]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 24 2022, @01:54AM
> 5000nm
..when transported in a normally-sized water/phlem droplet, not the actual RNA protein (which is in the order of 16nm iirc). If you care to look, for some odd reason casual infection rates skyrocket when the humidity drops (..like in air-conditioned motel buildings used for Quarantining International Arrivals..), when the size of the droplets decreases.