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:
“A breath of will blows eternally through the universe of souls in the direction of Right and Necessity. It is the air which all intellects inhale and exhale, and it is the wind which blows the worlds into order and orbit.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is commonly said ... that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humour, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)