Forbes.com:Breath Test Could Spot Bioterror Bugs

Forbes.com:: "Health
Breath Test Could Spot Bioterror Bugs
-- Robert Preidt


MONDAY, March 21 (HealthDay News) -- A simple breath test currently under development could let doctors quickly identify who's been infected to any one of a number of bioterror agents.
'We want to have a tool that can help in the emergency room or first responders to triage on site so that people who are infected can get treatment first,' Joany Jackson, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, said in a prepared statement.
Reporting March 21 at the American Society for Microbiology Biodefense Research Meeting, her team explained that when cells in the body are exposed to organisms that cause disease, they release proteins called cytokines that help immune cells identify and fight the infection. The researchers believe cytokines may work their way up through tissue to be exhaled through water vapor in the breath.
A breath test that captured and identified specific cytokines might help bioterror first responders detect newly infected individuals, they said.