Electronically 'sniff' out asthma, or even explosives

The electronic nose is being developed for a number of uses, from food and perfumes, to toxic chemicals and explosives, and now possibly even for detecting asthma.

"The device contains chemical vapor sensors that react to the presence of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, in a person's exhaled breath. "A person's breath contains a mixture of thousands of VOCs that may be used as markers of lung disease," says researcher Silvano Dragonieri, M.D., of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. "

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070521171646.htm