WHAT could be more accurate, faster and cheaper than the current diagnostic test kits for Covid-19 detection? It is man’s all-time best friend – yes, dogs!
Dogs nature of sniffing everything may be annoying to some humans but looks like researchers around the world are actually benefiting from it. Researchers are now taking advantage of dogs’ keen [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] sense of smell to help with early detection of the presence of SARS-CoV-2.
A pilot study by a group of Finnish researchers at the University of Helsinki suggests that their first sniffer dogs were able to accurately distinguish urine samples from Covid-19 patients from urine samples of healthy individuals.
Interestingly, the dogs were also reported to be able to identify the presence of Covid-19 even before the patients show any side effects of the infection. This means the sensitivity of dogs is better than the current tests for Covid-19 which generally shows results in two to three days.
“Dogs’ sense of smell is millions or even billion times better than the machines that are used to look for molecules which enables dogs to sniff out anything from mould to illicit drugs or missing persons,” said Anna Hielm-Björkman, an associate professor of animal clinical research at the University of Helsinki.
Although the substance in the urine which produces the Covid-19 odour is still inexact, an article on the CNN website reported that researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in collaboration with charity Medical Detection Dogs and the UK’s Durham University say respiratory diseases have the ability to change body odour. Since the SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory related disease, dogs known for their profoundly delicate olfactory organs could instantly notice the change in smell brought about by Covid-19.
Sniffer dogs are trained with containers holding samples of breath, sweat or urine for example and as soon as they have identified the smell of study, the dogs hear a click and will be given a treat. They are consistently trained for the smell on this reward principle.
Researchers believe that the findings of these studies could prove to be a great help in the fight against the new coronavirus in situations where there is a high risk of infection. It could be a way to kickstart the travel industry which has come to a standstill since the beginning of the pandemic.
“Dogs could be deployed at airports to scan people entering a country. At the point when the canines go down the line, they can identify if someone is healthy and can enter the country. Instead, if a person smells of COVID-19, the handler could send that person to a coronavirus testing center for a second test,” said Luca Barett from the German Assistance Dog Center as report in the DW news portal.
Barett said dogs could also be used to search for the virus on surfaces of an aircraft before passengers head into the aircraft. Similar acts are planned for doctors’ surgeries, aged care homes or nursing homes which were evacuated due to COVID-19 cases. A sniffer dog should be able to check whether the environment is “clean” before these places are used again.
Looking at how much of money each and every country has spent to combat and control Covid-19, it is unbelievable to think how different the world would be if we had those specially trained dogs. However, it is still not too late to get these sniffer dogs onboard! pd [/ihc-hide-content]
