Described herein is a diagnostic chewing gum for identifying the presence of pathogens detectable via the mouth, in particular pathogens residing in nasal, oropharyngeal, laryngeal, oesophageal, ocular and/or pulmonal tissue of a user, more particularly pathogens selected from among a virus, bacterium, protozoa, prion, fungus or a combination thereof. The inventive diagnostic chewing gum includes a base material or particles (3) embedded and/or attached to the base material and an element (1, 5-7), like e.g. a releasable flavor molecule, attached to the base material and/or the particles, for the generation of a change in the chewing gum directly detectable by the user, wherein the element (1, 5-7) generates the change upon direct or indirect contact with a marker (4) which is released by the pathogens, or, in case of a virus or prion, by the cellular structure hosting it.
