A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that sniffer dogs, after two months of training on COVID-19 scent samples in the lab, have been able to detect the virus with over 95% accuracy.
After the training, the dogs were tested in real-life scenarios, where they sniffed the ankles and feet of volunteer students to detect COVID-19.
During 50 visits to 27 schools, the dogs conducted over 3,500 screenings by sniffing the ankles and feet of students. Later, the students were tested for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests to confirm if the dogs’ detection was accurate.
According to the study, the dogs were able to accurately identify 83 percent of the COVID-19 positive students and 90 percent of the virus-negative students.
The aim is for dogs to conduct widespread screening of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and only perform antigen tests on individuals who have tested positive in the dog screening. This approach could potentially reduce the number of antigen tests by around 85 percent.
The study suggests that dogs can be used for effective and non-invasive screening of COVID-19, though some changes may be required before this can be widely implemented. It also states that this method could potentially be used to screen for other pathogens as well.
Read More: Newshub