Fast Screening and Primary Diagnosis of COVID-19 by ATR–FT-IR

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to substantial infections and mortality around the world. Fast screening and diagnosis are thus crucial for quick isolation and clinical intervention. In this work, we showed that attenuated total reflection−Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR−FT-IR) can be a primary diagnostic tool for COVID-19 as a supplement to in-use techniques. It requires only a small volume (∼3 μL) of the serum sample and a shorter detection time (several minutes). The distinct spectral differences and the separability between normal control and COVID-19 were investigated using multivariate and statistical analysis. Results showed that ATR−FT-IR coupled with partial least squares discriminant analysis was effective to differentiate COVID-19 from normal controls and some common respiratory viral infections or inflammation, with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.9561 (95% CI: 0.9071−0.9774). Several serum constituents including, but not just, antibodies and serum phospholipids could be reflected on the infrared spectra, serving as "chemical fingerprints" and accounting for good model performances.

High sensitivity infrared spectroscopy with a diamond waveguide on aluminium nitride

“…4 Of particular interest, considering the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of writing this paper, is the identification of viral infections 5 and specifically COVID-19. 6 A commonly used technique in mid-IR spectroscopy is attenuated total reflection (ATR). Light is reflected off the inside surface of a high refractive index material at an angle that produces total reflection.…”

Rapid Classification of COVID-19 Severity by ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy of Plasma Samples

“…To minimize interference from solvent peaks, we acquired spectra after solvents were evaporated from the ATR-FTIR crystal, choosing 75% ethanol as a rapid and practical inactivation and sample preparation. The use of solvent facilitates sample drying on the ATR-FTIR crystal, with the 1 μL sample generally dry within 30 s, compared to the 3–5 min reported by Zhang et al 8 Zhang and colleagues used heating at 65 °C for 30 min to inactivate samples; the inactivation step was not reported by Barauna et al 9 …”

Visual naked-eye detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA based on covalent organic framework capsules

“…Currently, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the principal method to identify SARS-CoV-2 infection [5] , [6] , [7] . However, RT-PCR requires expensive special equipment, a reverse transcription step and well-trained technicians [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] . Considering the high potential threat of the pandemic, it is urgent to establish rapid and simple methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection.…”