Researchers have created and successfully examined a new sensor, which can detect Type-I diabetes instantaneously.

The novel device could also be utilized by doctors in the emergency room to check whether a patient has developed diabetic ketoacidosis.

In the coming time, the technology may also be used by diabetes sufferers, in their own homes, to check whether they need more insulin or not.

Sotiris E. Pratsinis, professor and colleagues at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), said that each and every person has a little bit of acetone in their breath.

However, Type I diabetics release unusually high levels of acetone during exhalation. If they have diabetic ketoacidosis, a dangerous buildup of acetone in the blood, they exhale even-larger amounts of the chemical.

Pratsinis' group made an extremely sensitive acetone detector. The device works like an electrical resistor when it gets hit with a puff of acetone-filled air, its resistance drops, allowing more electricity to pass between the electrodes.

Electrical resistance is a measure of the degree to which an object opposes an electric current through it.

Pratsinis' group discovered that this new sensor can detect acetone in extremely moist air, an attribute that is critical for any breath test.

It is sensitive enough to detect acetone at 20 parts per billion, a concentration that is 90 times lower than the level at which it can be found in the breath of diabetic patients. (With Inputs from Agencies)