On analyzing capnogram as a novel method for screening COVID-19: A review on assessment methods for COVID-19
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2021
Abstract
In November 2019, the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 was reported in Wuhan city, China, and was reported in other countries around the globe. COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Strategies such as contact tracing and a vaccination program have been imposed to keep COVID-19 under control. Furthermore, a fast, noninvasive and reliable testing device is needed urgently to detect COVID-19, so that contact can be isolated and ringfenced before the virus spreads. Although the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test is considered the gold standard method for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, this test presents some limitations which cause delays in detecting the disease. The antigen rapid test (ART) test, on the other hand, is faster and cheaper than PCR, but is less sensitive, and may limit SARS-CoV-2 detection. While other tests are being developed, accurate, noninvasive and easy-to-use testing tools are in high demand for the rapid and extensive diagnosis of the disease. Therefore, this paper reviews current diagnostic methods for COVID-19. Following this, we propose the use of expired carbon dioxide (CO2) as an early screening tool for SARS-CoV-2 infection. This system has already been developed and has been tested on asthmatic patients. It has been proven that expired CO2, also known as capnogram, can help differentiate between respiratory conditions and, therefore, could be used to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection, as it causes respiratory tract-related diseases.
Keywords
COVID-19, Diagnostic test, Screening tool, SARS CoV-2 infection, CO2 waveform, Feature extraction
Divisions
fac_med
Funders
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Q.J130000.2551.21H53),Ministry of Education, Malaysia (R.J130000.7851.4L919)
Publication Title
Life-Basel
Volume
11
Issue
10
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher Location
ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND