Flu season is fast approaching in the northern hemisphere.
Flu season is fast approaching in the northern hemisphere. And a taste-based influenza test could someday have you swapping nasal swabs for chewing gum. A new molecular sensor has been designed to release a thyme flavor when it encounters the influenza virus. Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science say that they plan to incorporate this type of low-tech sensor into gum or lozenges to increase at-home screenings and potentially prevent pre-symptomatic transmission of the disease.
Staying home is critical to preventing the spread of infectious diseases like influenza; however, people with the flu are contagious before they develop symptoms. Current flu diagnostics like nasal swab-based PCR tests are accurate, but they are slow and expensive. At-home lateral flow tests, akin to those used to test for COVID-19, are convenient and generally low-cost, but don’t catch pre-symptomatic infections.
As written in their published study, Lorenz Meinel and colleagues address these flu detection shortcomings “by switching away from complex detectors and machinery and toward a detector that is available for anyone, everywhere and anytime: the tongue.”
Read More: American Chemical Society
Photo Credit: Alexandra_Koch via Pixabay
