A recent study by experts at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover, Germany, found that dogs can identify COVID-19 with a high level of accuracy. The study found that trained dogs were able to find the virus in 94% of samples of human saliva.
Eight detection canines were used in the study, and they were trained using a reward-based system for a week. Afterward, samples of human saliva were given to the canines, some of which were from COVID-19-infected individuals and others from non-infected individuals. The dogs had a 94% accuracy rate for correctly identifying samples from infected people and a 92% accuracy rate for correctly identifying samples from non-infected people.
This work is important because it supports using trained detection dogs as a non-invasive COVID-19 screening technique. In fact, some nations currently include detection dogs in their COVID-19 screening procedures. For instance, detection dogs have been employed in the United Arab Emirates to check travelers for the virus at airports.
Dogs have long been used to identify diseases. Dogs have been used for decades to find some cancers, including lung and ovarian cancer, as well as other illnesses, such as malaria. Dogs can detect odors at quantities as low as one part per trillion, demonstrating their extraordinary sensitivity to smell.
The results of this study show how amazing dogs are and how they might be able to help fight COVID-19. Still, more research needs to be done to find out how detection dogs can be used in real life and how they can be added to screening processes that are already in place.