Exhaled Breath Analysis for Non-Invasive Diagnosis of Tropical Diseases

Identifier:  TDX:2898

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX2898

Authors:  Tesfalem Geremariam, Welearegay

Abstract:
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) belong to the group of infectious diseases. They are endemic in most parts of the world, affecting more than one billion people worldwide, especially low income populations from developing regions. The infection to humans is characterized by a chronic and prolonged asymptomatic incubation period without noticeable symptoms of the disease, which delays the prescription of a suitable and timely medical treatment. The prevention, diagnosis and control of these diseases still remain an unsolved medical challenge. This thesis aimed to develop a non-invasive, safe and patient-friendly methodology for rapid diagnosis of NTDs. The thesis approach was based on disease diagnosis via exhaled breath samples analyses, which are easy to obtain and present no discomfort or risk for patients’ health. The thesis work was focused on three different types of neglected tropical diseases (Dengue, Echinococcosis and Leishmaniasis) caused by three different pathogens (viral, helminthic and protozoan infections, respectively). Breath collection was realized with homologated Bio-VOCTM breath samplers, which are simple and user friendly and require minimal training. For analyzing the breath samples, at first standard analytical techniques were employed for the identification of the breath volatile biomarkers of these diseases. As another objective of my thesis, an array of cross reactive chemical gas sensors based on ultrapure metal nanoparticles – ligand nanoassemblies comprising diverse functional organic ligands was designed and fabricated employing an innovative physical deposition route. The new sensors were characterized and employed for the analysis of the breath print profiles of the diseases under study. The responses of the chemical gas sensors to the breath samples were used to build predictive pattern recognition models for the diagnoses of these diseases. The results obtained revealed that exhaled breath analysis with cross reactive gas sensors arrays based on ultrapure metal nanoparticles-ligand nanoassemblies holds significant potential as a cost-effective, simple and non-invasive diagnostic test for NTDs.