The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued an emergency use authorization for what it said is the first device that can detect COVID-19 in breath samples.
The InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer is about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, the FDA said, and can be used in doctor’s offices, hospitals and mobile testing sites. The test, which can provide results in less than three minutes, must be carried out under the supervision of a licensed health care provider.
Dr. Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, called the device “yet another example of the rapid innovation occurring with diagnostic tests for COVID-19.”
The FDA said the device was 91.2% accurate at identifying positive test samples and 99.3% accurate at identifying negative test samples.
“InspectIR expects to be able to produce approximately 100 instruments per week, which can each be used to evaluate approximately 160 samples per day,” the agency said. “At this level of production, testing capacity using the InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer is expected to increase by approximately 64,000 samples per month.”
Melissa Whitely, personal trainer for Life Time Fitness, spoke with Cheddar News about the importance of recovery following a tense workout session. "If we're not going through the proper recovery methods, we can have undue pain, discomfort, tightness in our muscles and all those other things we can avoid," she said.
Dr. Payel Gupta, medical director of allergy, asthma, immunology & ENT for LifeMD.com, joined Cheddar News to discuss some tips on how to cope with allergy season. "With the warmer temperatures, we're seeing that the seasons arrive sooner and actually last longer, and also the elevated CO2 levels actually cause the plants to release more pollen," she said.
A new survey from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing shows that four in five behavioral health workers were concerned that labor shortages in their field “negatively impact society as a whole.”
Food and Drug Administration regulators on Tuesday approved a first-of-a-kind drug for a rare form of Lou Gehrig’s disease, though they are requiring further research to confirm it truly helps patients.
A Japanese company's attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon has apparently failed. Flight controllers lost contact Wednesday with the lander after it descended from lunar orbit, aiming for the dusty surface.
The Supreme Court on Friday preserved women’s access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion, rejecting lower-court restrictions while a lawsuit continues.
