COVID 19 Infection: Sniffer Dogs Trained to Detect Infected Patients

• Scientific research in Finland shows that dogs can detect COVID 19 infection with about 92% accuracy.

• The dogs were trained within weeks to accurately detect the virus in humans.

• The trained dogs were able to identify 296 negative samples out of 300 negative tests.

Some researchers in Finland recently discovered that dogs can detect Coronavirus with about 92% accuracy. This new research shows that the abilities of the dogs would have been beneficial during the early stages of the pandemic especially when there were no other options.

According to the study, dogs can be trained within a few weeks to detect COVID 19 infection, having a similar degree of accuracy to the nose and throat swab tests.

The University of Helsinki in Finland conducted a study in which four dogs were trained to sniff out the COVID 19 virus during the 2020 spring. Each of the sniffed skin samples was from 114 people who are COVID-19 positive and 306 negative people. These dogs were formerly trained to detect dangerous goods, drugs, and cancer.

Between September 2020 and April 2021, the researchers conducted a trial with the dogs where they sniffed the samples of 303 incoming passengers at the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport. 

The dogs were able to identify 296 negative samples out of 300 negative tests, while they identified three COVID-19 positive samples as negative.

Asides from this there are a lot of other research studies looking at the ability of dogs to accurately detect COVID-19.

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 A clinic in Germany trained dogs to detect the COVID-19 virus in human saliva, while dogs were trained in Thailand to detect a volatile organic compound that’s secreted in the sweat of infected people.

The BMJ Global Health researchers suggested that dogs can be used in sites where there is high Sars-CoV-2 prevalence, like hospitals (used for screening patients and personnel). They can also be used in low prevalence sites like airports to screen passengers for COVID 19 infection.

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