Dogs can sniff out 'the smell of the new coronavirus contained in pee'
Dogs have a very good sense of smell and are known to be able
Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 infected patient samples by detection dogs: A proof of concept study
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250158
With impressive accuracy, dogs can sniff out coronavirus | Penn Today
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/impressive-accuracy-dogs-can-sniff-out-coronavirus
Trained dogs can smell coronavirus in your pee | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/dogs-sniff-out-coronavirus.html
Attempts have been made to use the dog's sense of smell to detect the new coronavirus, and a 2020 study found that trained dogs could smell the new coronavirus in saliva and other secretions. I am. In response to these research results, 'new coronavirus detection dogs' have already been introduced on a trial basis at airports in Dubai and Finland.
Dogs can be trained to sniff out the new coronavirus-GIGAZINE
However, previous studies have focused on saliva, which contains a large amount of the new coronavirus, and it was unclear whether dogs could be sniffed even with urine, which contains a relatively small amount of virus in the sample. thing. Therefore, the research team decided to conduct a new experiment on eight Labrador retrievers and one Belgian Shepherd Dog Malinois (Belgian Malinois) who had never performed medical detection work before.
In this study, we first trained nine dogs with a universal detection compound (UDC) that does not exist in the natural environment to help them remember the task of detecting a particular odor. In this training, a UDC was installed in one of the 12 'fragrance ports' arranged in a circle, and a reward was given each time the dog responded to the port containing the UDC. The photo below shows the circular scent port used in training and experiments, where the scent is emitted from the small hole at the tip of the stick.
After the dog learned UDC, the research team also trained with a scent port using urine samples taken from patients who were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Samples were taken from 2 adults and 5 children who were positive for SARS-CoV-2, and 6 children who were negative as a control group, and the virus was inactivated by heat or detergent. The research team said it had been done.
After three weeks of training, nine dogs were found to be able to identify SARS-CoV-2 positive urine samples with an average accuracy of 96%, with a specificity of 99 to correctly determine negative urine samples as negative. %was. On the other hand, based on the strict rule that 'if you pass through the SARS-CoV-2 positive scent port without reacting even once, label it as a' mistake '', the sensitivity to correctly judge a positive urine sample as positive. Was only 68%.
This experiment also included a sample of 'a patient who was negative for SARS-CoV-2 at the time of sampling but recovered from a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the past', and dogs were collected from this patient. It seems that there was also a tendency to react easily to the sample that was made. In addition, it was said that the detection accuracy was low in a completely new sample, probably because of the effect of repeated training on samples of the same subject group. The lesson learned from this experiment is that future experiments will train dogs with more samples rather than repeated testing with samples taken from the same individual.
by Pat Nolan
At the time of writing, the research team identified 'whether the person was SARS-CoV-2 positive' and 'whether the person was vaccinated' from the smell of the T-shirt worn by humans overnight. Is being promoted. 'The T-shirt study has collected far more samples than this one, and we hope to get closer to the situations that dogs may encounter in the community,' said Cynthia Otto, a research team. '.
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