Rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by multicapillary column coupled ion mobility spectrometry (MCC-IMS) of breath. A proof of concept study.

Steppert, Claus; Steppert, Isabel; Sterlacci, William; Bollinger, Thomas

There is an urgent need for screening of patients having a communicable viral disease to cut infection chains. Recently we could demonstrate that ion mobility spectrometry coupled with a multicapillary column (MCC-IMS) is able to identify Influenza-A infections in patients' breath. With decreasing Influenza epidemic and upcoming SARS-CoV-2 infections we proceeded further and analysed patients with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infections. In this study, nasal breath of 75 patients (34m, 41f, aged 64.4 ± 15.4 years) was investgated by MCC-IMS for viral infections. 14 were positively diagnosed for Influenza-A infection and 16 for SARS-CoV-2 by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of nasopharyngeal swabs. In one patient RT-PCR was highly suspicious of SARS-CoV-2 but initially inconclusive. The remaining 44 patients served as controls. Breath fingerprints for specific infections were assessed by a combination of cluster analysis and multivariate statistics. There was no significant difference in gender or age according to the groups. In the cross validation of the discriminant analysis 72 of the 74 patients could be correctly classified to the respective group. Even the inconclusive patient could be mapped to the SARS-CoV-2 group applying the discrimination functions. Conclusion: MCC-IMS is able to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection and Influenza-A infection in breath in this pilot study. As this method provides a fast non-invasive diagnosis it should be further developed in a larger cohort for screening of communicable viral diseases.