Biological measurement system

A method of detecting at least one pathogen in at least one sample of the sputum/mucus from a subject comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a biological measurement system comprising collecting means for collecting the sample in aerosol form from a patient comprising a collection vessel with an inside surface, said vessel having an aperture for allowing the sample to enter said vessel in aerosol form in order to be collected within said vessel and deposited onto said inside surface;
• concentrating means for mechanically collecting the sample from the inside surface of the collecting means, which when actuated, mechanically collects said sample from said inside surface of the said collecting means to form a spatially concentrated sample which is transferred to a region within said vessel where the concentrated sample is optically interrogated, said concentrating means including means for scraping said inside surface where the sample is deposited;
• marking means for optically labeling the components present in the concentrated sample to produce labeled components;
• and interrogating means for optically interrogating said labeled components and thereby generating a measure of the concentration of components present in the sample;
• (b) collecting said one or more samples in aerosol form in the collecting means;
• (c) spatially concentrating the one or more samples in the concentrating means by mechanically collecting the sample from the inside surface of the collecting means;
• (d) optically labeling one or more pathogens present in said one or more samples;
• (e) optically interrogating the pathogens to achieve an optical response;
• and
• (f) determining from the optical response of said one or more samples whether or not said one or more pathogens are present in said one or more samples.