Detecting Covid-19 with a 40-second eye scan ? YES, or at least maybe.

Detecting Covid-19 with a 40-second eye scan - A noninvasive technology that analyzes the eye’s tear film layer is being tested in Israel to determine if it performs as well as a PCR test.

AdOM Advanced Optical Technologies and Israel’s Sheba Medical Center?have launched the world’s largest study for the detection of Covid-19 on the surface of the eye. The study will compare AdOM’s? Tear Film Imager (TFI)(The?Tear Film Imager?(TFI) is an ophthalmic, computer-assisted imaging system intended to measure the attributes of the tear film. It was developed to offer a range of non-invasive measurements of all tear film sublayers. By measuring clinically relevant parameters of the tear film dynamics, the TFI has the potential to enhance the management of specific eye diseases.) — a quick, noninvasive and inexpensive exam — to the PCR diagnostic test, the current standard. GREAT NEWS- A successful proof of concept study at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon already demonstrated high specificity and sensitivity of the TFI vs. PCR in Covid-19 patients. The validation trial at Sheba – Israel’s largest medical center – will test the TFI on about 500 patients over the next 30 days.

Check it out - In just 40 seconds, the TFI simultaneously measures the muco-aqueous and lipid sublayers of the eye’s tear film, at a resolution depth of a few nanometers. These sublayers play an important role in the identification and treatment of specific eye conditions such as dry eye syndrome. The TFI is used in countries including the United States and Japan. It’s one of the only commercially available devices that can identify and quantify a virus within the surface of the eye. Sheba Medical Center's chief investigator Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, who also serves as the deputy director general and chief innovation officer says; “Our goal is to have hundreds of patients who are asymptomatic or symptomatic with Covid-19, irrespective of the variant and even those who have recovered, to see how the TFI device compares to the existing PCR standard of care.

The world urgently needs new diagnostic tools to help assess and diagnose aggressive viruses in a noninvasive manner, and with speed and efficiency, however, the test also needs to meet the rigors of high sensitivity, which is the hallmark of an approvable diagnostic device. Different SARS variants, as well as aggressive flu variants, are threatening the world population and they are developing the TFI virus detection technology for high sensitivity within these large groups. So if the TFI does prove to have high correlation to PCR, we could see a future "Point-of-Care Diagnostics" in airports, sporting arenas and businesses.

So go seek out one of those old futuristic movies and re-visit it and see, where they "Rental Scanned" you in order to travel. So are we not too far away from this in our futures ?

Don't think so, in my humble opinion !