Dogs Will Be Trained To Detect COVID-19

Dogs will be trained to detect COVID-19

Scientists are confident that dogs could "diagnose" the disease. One dog could examine about 250 people per hour.

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People use the phenomenal sense of smell of dogs not only to detect explosives and drugs. Many research groups are trying to teach dogs to sniff out various diseases, such as cancer and epilepsy.

British scientists want to know if dogs can detect the new coronavirus infection COVID-19 by smell, according to New Atlas. Perhaps new research will help find a quick and non-invasive method for preliminary diagnosis of the disease. This would help contain its spread.

Scientists from Durham University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LHGTM) are trying to teach dogs to detect COVID-19 with the help of the non-profit organization Medical Detection Dogs.

New Atlas reports that in 2018, the same group of scientists taught springer spaniels to detect the smell of malaria. Scientists hope to achieve similar success in the new endeavor.

“We know that respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 change body odor. Therefore, the likelihood that dogs will be able to detect a specific smell is very high. This diagnostic approach could quickly improve our response to COVID-19,”said Professor James Logan of LSGTM.

It is speculated that dogs may also detect elevated body temperatures in humans. That is, there are several mechanisms by which they can “diagnose” COIVD-19.

Scientists report that a trained dog could "examine" about 250 people in an hour. Dogs are trained by specialists in the same techniques they have already used to train them to sniff out bacterial infections.

“Basically, we are confident that dogs could detect COVID-19. We're currently looking for a way to safely collect odors from patients and present them to dogs,”said Claire Guest, co-founder of Medical Snoop Dogs.