Breath Test

A breath test is a type of test performed on air generated from the act of exhalation.

Types include:

  • Breathalyzer - By far the most common usage of this term relates to the legal breath test to determine if a person is driving under the influence of alcohol.
  • Hydrogen breath test - it is becoming more and more common for people to undertake a medical test for clinical diagnosis of dietary disabilities such as fructose intolerance, fructose malabsorption, lactose intolerance and lactulose intolerance.
  • The presence of Helicobacter pylori (in peptic ulcer disease) can be tested for with the urea breath test.
  • Exhaled nitric oxide is a breath test that might signal airway inflammation such as in asthma.
  • Breath Tests for Diseases have been developed by companies like Menssana Research, Inc. for early detection of Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer, Pulmonary TB and many others, to serve as an adjunct to existing medical tests. Phase II and Phase III clinical studies are under way to confirm the efficacy of these breath tests.

Famous quotes containing the words breath and/or test:

    “What greater light can be hoped for in the moral sciences? The subject part of mankind in most places might, instead thereof, with Egyptian bondage expect Egyptian darkness, were not the candle of the Lord set up by himself in men’s minds, which it is impossible for the breath or power of man wholly to extinguish.”
    —John Locke (1632–1704)

    “If a test of civilization be sought, none can be so sure as the condition of that half of society over which the other half has power.”
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