Comments
A new study has been carried out to test whether sniffer dogs are able to detect novel coronavirus by sniffing the sweat of people as they have the capability to sniff 750 people per hour.
Researchers believe that if this method works out, the preliminary screening of people would be easier and it can also help in strengthening preventive measures to stop the coronavirus from further spread.
The study, published in the journal PLOS One , involved 177 patients, 95 who had tested positive for Covid-19 and 82 people tested negative, from four hospitals.
Researchers based in France and Lebanon took sweat samples from the underarms of the patients, and per the study. The samples needed to come from the same hospitals for the dogs to not be confused by the particular hospital odor.
The researchers then trained 14 dogs, who have been working in explosive detection, search and rescue, or colon cancer detection, using the sweat samples.
They trained the dogs to detect a positive Covid-19 sweat sample from three to four cones that contained negative, or mock, samples.
The researchers observed through their experiment that the dogs were able to pick up on a specific scent produced by volatile organic compounds that are generated by catabolites, which are produced by the replication of the virus. They escape the body through sweat, which can then be picked up by sniffer dogs.
The authors of the study wrote: "The success rate per dog (i.e., the number of correct indications divided by the number of trials) ranged from 76 per cent to 100 per cent."
Notably, the dogs also marked two negative samples from the lot. The researchers then sent the samples back to the hospital to retest them. The negative samples turned out to be positive. This further supported the experiment that dogs can sniff Covid-19.
The researchers, however, added that the results need to be confirmed in larger studies.
"Even if trained dogs are able to correctly discriminate symptomatic Covid-19 positive individuals from asymptomatic negative ones, they should not be considered a perfect diagnostic test -- but rather a complementary tool, " the study said.
If further reinforced with other studies, trained dogs could provide a non-invasive alternative to currently available tests.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.