COVID or flu? This device will tell you in just 10 seconds

London: A sensor created by scientists can screen for both the flu and COVID at the same time and can identify which one you have in less than ten seconds.

The new device’s ultra-thin nanomaterial can identify the viruses that cause both infections at lower levels and faster than other options, like lateral flows.

Built with graphene, which is a single layer of carbon atoms organised in a hexagonal lattice.

It can detect and differentiate between the presence of various viral proteins because of its extreme thinness, which makes it so sensitive to any electrical changes in its environment.

The graphene was connected by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin to the antibodies that the human immune system produces to combat both viruses.

The antibodies bind to their target proteins when a sample from an infected individual is applied to the sensor, which alters the electrical current.

The sensor was able to detect the sample proteins, even in very small quantities, within just 10 seconds of being added to fluid that was intended to mimic saliva during testing.

This may enable the sensor to recognise the even more minute viral particles present in people’s breath, according to Deji Akinwande of the University of Texas at Austin.

He claimed that they could make it easier to identify extremely small amounts of pretty much anything that needed to be sensed.

“Having a sensor that can simultaneously detect whether you have COVID, the flu, none of the above, or both would be extremely useful when both of these viruses are circulating together, as they did earlier this winter,” he continued.

Many symptoms, including a cough and a high fever, are similar between COVID and the flu.

The device’s success in identifying both, according to Akinwande, indicates that it could be modified to screen for other infections.

The results of his team’s discovery will be presented in the American Chemical Society in the coming week, report said.

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