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14 June 2005
The "Spectral Nose", which is being built at Strathclyde University, would use advanced chemistry to detect different odours, and then a computer screen would give the patient an all-clear or indicate which disease they could have.
A desktop device for hospitals, laboratories, doctors' surgeries and the workplace is being developed, along with a hand-held version which could be used in the home or in the field.
The device could also be used for quality control in the food, drinks and perfume industries and eventually become an effective way for the police to test suspected drug drivers at the roadside.
Professor Andrew Mills, of Strathclyde's chemistry department, said they were still in the developmental stage and while a working device was some way off, progress had been good to date.
"The idea of detecting odours and using that as a means of medical diagnosis is not new. But although it is 100 years old, it is being rediscovered," he said.
"Where diseases are associated with characteristic odours, this could be used for rapid screening and mass screening.
"Smallpox, liver failure, diabetes - there are a lot of things you can pick up just from the smell of a patient's breath," he said. "Even measles has a characteristic smell.
"What we're aiming to do is produce a bench-top machine that will be used in the lab and in hospitals, but also a hand-held version that may not have as high a quality but will identify any obvious smells of concern and not be subjective - it should be correct whether it's winter or summer and whether anybody has a cold."
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