According to new research, dogs are able to detect Covid-19 in humans through their sweat, paving the way for the inclusion of trained greyhounds in the fight against the pandemic.
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Detection reached 97% in the French study, meaning specially trained dogs can sniff out people who are positive for the virus at that rate. The dogs' score outperforms many 15-minute antigen tests, which tend to be better at ruling out infection than detecting it.
The results mean that virus-sniffing dogs could be used more widely at airports, train stations or anywhere there is a large crowd to monitor people, such as when used to detect drugs or bombs. Using dogs also means that Covid could be identified within a fraction of a second in a non-invasive way and at low cost.
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The trial, conducted at the National Veterinary School of France in Maisons Alfort near Paris, collected sweat samples from participants’ armpits with cotton pads sealed in jars, then each was given to at least two different dogs to sniff. None of the dogs had any previous contact with the volunteers. There were 335 people who took part in the trial, of whom 109 tested positive in a PCR test that served as a comparison. Nine dogs participated, and the researchers did not know which samples were positive.
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In July, German researchers showed that trained dogs were able to distinguish between saliva sampled from people infected with the virus and those who were not, 90% of the time. Finland, Dubai and Switzerland have begun training dogs to sniff out the virus.
The latest study was carried out between March 16 and April 9, and the Ile-de-France region helped fund the trial, contributing 25,000 euros.
