Combining as many gadgets as possible into one is the hottest trend right now, so it mustn't come as a shock if a cellphone is fitted with medical functions, for example. This is what Applied Nanodetectors Ltd. (AND) wants to do; more precisely, to diagnose a person's health just by breathing into a cellphone.

The UK company prototyped a mobile phone that can detect various diseases from user's breath, thanks to its embedded specialized medical chip, and exhibited it at the International Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference (nano tech 2009). Manufactured by Finnish company Nokia, the handset carries AND's chip and sensors needed to be able to accurately diagnose a disease.

 

The mobile phone is embedded with AND's chip that integrates sensors to detect various gases such as CO2, NOx and ammonia (NH3). This chip determines the composition of the user's breath and tabulates the density of each gas. By matching the results with characteristics of various diseases, it can detect diseases. According to AND, the entire process resembles fingerprint matching.

 

Asthma, food poisoning, diabetes and even lung cancer are but some of the conditions AND claims the technology can diagnose. There are some devices on the market that can measure oral odor level, but this is the first chip capable of detecting so many factors embedded in a mobile phone. If the handset detects one or more of these diseases or abnormalities, it will automatically inform the user or their doctor for early detection of diseases.

 

It will be a while before we get to test its accuracy though, as launch dates and even marketing schedule of the handset are yet to be determined. It is known though that AND intends to take its innovation to Japanese handset manufacturers, thing that will most likely generate a rapid spread of the technology on the Asian market.

  

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