Bangkok (AFP)

Detecting the Covid-19 virus in human sweat: this less restrictive process is being developed by Thai researchers who carried out a life-size test in Bangkok this week.

In the aisles of a busy market in the Thai capital, a man and woman in protective suits ask a vendor to place a swab under his armpit.

Fifteen minutes later, the rod is transferred to a glass vial, sterilized by UV rays.

A sample is taken and analyzed.

30 seconds later, the result falls: negative.

This method is "95% reliable", a result comparable to nasal PCR, according to the first tests carried out on 2,000 people, assures AFP researcher Chadin Kulsing of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok who is developing these mobile units of detection.

His team has already launched an experiment with sweat-sniffing dogs to detect asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 and this new project is complementary.

"People infected with Covid-19 secrete very distinct chemicals," notes the researcher.

"This discovery allowed us to develop a device to detect the specific odors produced".

A Chulalongkorn University researcher in a protective suit analyzes sweat samples taken from vendors in a Bangkok market, September 8, 2021 in Thailand Lillian SUWANRUMPHA AFP

Thailand is not the first country to take an interest in sweat to detect Covid-19, the United Kingdom and the United States in particular have launched comparable work.

But the kingdom, and in particular Bangkok, is facing an unprecedented epidemic wave since the spring.

Chadin Kulsing hopes that his detection method, still in the experimental phase, can soon be deployed as an alternative to PCR tests which require laboratory processing and are therefore much more expensive.

"It's also more practical," notes a seller in the market.

No need to go to a screening center and "I can continue to work while waiting for the results".

A sweat sample is analyzed for Covid-19 at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, September 1, 2021 in Thailand Lillian SUWANRUMPHA AFP

Nearly 1.5 million cases and nearly 14,000 deaths have been recorded in Thailand, mostly in recent months.

The vaccination campaign is progressing but started late.

Only 11 of the 70 million people received two doses of the vaccine.

© 2021 AFP