DOCTORS could soon give a speedy diagnosis of many ailments by using an electronic nose originally developed to detect bad beer. The device can sniff out some common bacteria .
The nose, which was developed at Warwick University, can identify common pathogens that cause infections of the ear, nose and throat. At the moment it takes about three days to get results from ear and throat swabs, and in that time a patient may receive no treatment or the wrong antibiotic. The nose can make its diagnosis in a matter of minutes.
The idea of using the nose clinically grew from its use detecting food and drink that had gone off (Technology, 20 February 1993, p 18). "It struck me that what we were really looking at was the growth of bacteria which were responsible for food spoilage," says Julian Gardner, head of the Warwick team.
The nose contains ...
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