Can Sniffer Dogs Really Detect COVID?

In the study, trained sniffer dogs were able to detect COVID-19 in 97% of symptomatic cases and nearly 100% of asymptomatic cases simply by sweat sample.

A team of researchers from several institutions in France and the United Arab Emirates have found that dogs can be as effective in mass screening for COVID-19. In their study, the team describes how they tested several dogs that sniffed human sweat samples for COVID-19 and how well they did.

Previous studies have shown that sniffer dogs were used for diagnosis of malaria, prostate cancer, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and breast cancer. Research has suggested that these dogs can do the identification of COVID-19 patients. To find out if that is true, the researchers tested the sniffing ability of several dogs facing multiple sweat samples and the results of this research were published in PLOS ONE.

COVID-19 Detection Using Dogs

To test the ability to detect COVID-19, several dogs were trained to sniff out human sweat samples and sit up if the virus was detected. Dogs were trained to sniff COVID-19 patients in a similar way as to sniff explosives. Once they were examined, the dogs were taken to the Alfort School of Veterinary Medicine, where cones were set up with sweat samples.

‘Trained dogs may be able to detect Covid-19 more effectively than nasal swab PCR tests, according to new research.’

All dogs sniffed sweat samples collected from 355 human volunteers. The researchers found that they were 97% accurate in identifying those who had already tested positive by the PCR test. They were 100% accurate in diagnosing COVID-19 in those who did not experience any symptoms. In other tests, dogs were found to be more accurate in identifying people with COVID-19 disease than commonly used antigen tests at home.

In another study, researchers from Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris included PCR and sweat samples from 335 people and antigen tests on 234 people recruited in Paris between March 16 and April 9, 2021.

The researchers examined five dogs that had been trained to sniff out COVID-19 disease to see if they could tell by positive and negative tests. They found that the sniffer dogs were 100% accurate in detecting positive COVID-19 cases in asymptomatic individuals compared to PCR test results.

Compared with 97% accurate antigen tests, the efficiency of the cores was slightly lower in detecting 90% of adverse events and detecting negative COVID-19 virus infections.

Nasopharyngeal swabs may be an alternative to RT-PCR when non-invasive detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by Canine alfalfa requires rapid results based on symptoms such as antigenic testing in the context of mass screening. The researchers wrote in the paper.

Researchers note that sweat samples were collected from the armpits, back of the neck, and used masks, proving that samples could be collected from multiple body sites. They also point out that it is not yet known how dogs can sense the smell of infections in people. They point out that dogs are much faster at detecting COVID-19 than any man-made test, which provides immediate results. The only drawback the team found was the lack of trained dogs.

Source-Medindia