‘Smart mask’ that costs $1 can check your health

Face covering that analyses breath hailed as versatile, cost-effective way to spot illness or monitor progress of medical treatments

A paper “smart mask” could be used to monitor people’s breath for signs of illness, a study has found.
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have developed a face mask that can be used to track medical conditions including asthma and Covid, as well as alcohol intake, according to research.
Unlike other smart masks being developed that monitor physical changes such as the temperature, humidity, or rate of breath, this device – called EBCare – can analyse the chemicals in a person’s breath in real time, saving them from time-consuming trips to the hospital.
Prof Wei Gao, whose team developed the mask prototype, said the EBC technology could be used to check if medical treatments are working.
Prof Gao said: “Monitoring a patient’s breath is something that is routinely done, for example, to assess asthma and other respiratory conditions.
“However, this has required the patient to visit a clinic for sample collection, followed by a waiting period for lab results.
“Since Covid-19, people are wearing masks more. We can leverage this increased mask use for remote personalised monitoring to get real-time feedback about our own health in our home or office. 
“For instance, we could use this information to assess how well a medical treatment may be working.”
The EBC (exhaled breath condensate) mask costs $1 (76p) to produce and works by using a special type of gel to help cool the breath, which condenses it and turns it into a liquid.
Once the breath has been converted into a liquid, a series of capillaries immediately transports the liquid to sensors for analysis.
The results are then transmitted wirelessly to a personal phone, tablet or computer.
In preliminary trials, patients with asthma or lung disease wore the masks which monitored their breath for nitrite, a chemical which indicates inflammation.
The results showed that the masks accurately detected the biomarker, indicting inflammation in the patients’ airways.
The team also showed how the masks accurately detected blood alcohol levels, suggesting they could be used for on-site drink-drive checks.
Prof Gao added: “These first studies are a proof of concept. We want to expand this technology to incorporate different markers related to various health conditions.
“This is a foundation for creating a mask that functions as a versatile general health-monitoring platform.”
Prof Gao has already developed a range of wearable biosensors that analyse human sweat to measure metabolites, nutrients, hormones, and protein levels.
Wenzheng Heng, study lead author, said: “The mask represents a new paradigm for respiratory and metabolic disease management and precise medicine…
“The breath condensate contains soluble gases as well as non-volatile substances in the form of aerosols or droplets, such as metabolic substances, inflammatory indicators, and pathogens.”
The research was published in the journal Science.