Can you imagine a world where dogs can single out COVID-19 positive individuals in a crowd? That’s the current target and goal of scientists from Durham University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
A potent way to control the spread of coronavirus is extensive testing. This is shown by countries like South Korea and Germany that have successfully contained the virus and flattened the curve. Germany alone tests an average of 500,000 people every week. This effectively helped then in determining where clusters of hot cases are concentrated. Early care and robust quarantine are then effected that led Germany to be one of the countries with the lowest death rate. Proving indeed, that aggressive testing is key.
However, such is not possible for all countries as there are limited numbers of test kits available. As scientists the world over scramble to produce test kits that can be manufactured fast and give instant results, one research center is zoning in on our dear beloved dogs.
Through a partnership with the charity Medical Detection Dogs, scientists have begun trials to figure out if dogs can sniff out COVID-19 positive individuals. There is much confidence in the project as Medical Detection Dogs has successfully trained dogs to detect malaria, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease.
This is possible because each disease has its own unique scent. Research even proved that dogs can detect malaria infections at a distinct level of accuracy that is higher than the World Health Organization’s standards.
The dogs in training are expected to be ready in six weeks. Once proven that they indeed can detect COVID-19 from individuals, dogs can then be utilized to prevent reemergence and future outbreaks.
The research is proven safe because there is data that supports the fact that dogs can catch COVID-19 and naturally develop potent antibodies against it.