As per a study, Sniffer dogs can help in prevent spread of Coronavirus by detecting SARS-CoV2. Study found; they can be 88 percent accurate in detecting the virus.
Highlights
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Study was conducted by scientists of London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Durham University.
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They believe, dog screening and swab testing can pick up 91 percent of infections.
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They report, dogs can detect virus in seconds. Traditional COVID tests requires 15 minutes to give result. Thus, in half an hour, dogs can screen 300 people together.
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Thus, sniff test can be a suitable method for mass screening.
How dogs identified virus?
Canine screening trial over specialist medical sniffer dogs detecting coronavirus in humans started in 2020. During the trial, six dogs were trained to recognise smell produced by people with COVID-19 which were undetectable to human nose. Dogs were given worn socks, face masks and t-shirts to recognise the smell.
Are dogs reliable biosensors?
People in negative group, who had common cold viruses, were also made part of the trial to ensure, dogs were able to distinguish COVID from other respiratory infections. The dogs easily detected the disease even when it was caused by different variants.