By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) – Tracker dogs trained with smelly socks worn by others inflamed with SARS-CoV-2 virus could soon be used at airports or mass gathering locations to capture the “crown smell” of other people inflamed with COVID-19 scientists said Monday.
Working in groups of two, COVID-trained dogs could, for example, track a line of several hundred people getting off a plane in part for an hour and tripping over other people inflamed with up to 94. 3% sensitivity, scientists said.
Presenting the effects of an initial examination, which concerned some 3,500 odor samples given in the form of unwashed socks or T-shirts worn by members of the public and fitness staff, the researchers said that dogs would even stumble upon an asymptomatic or mild instances of COVID -19, as well as instances caused by a mutant variant that gave the impression in the UK at the end of last year.
“Dogs can be a wonderful way to temporarily examine a large number of other people and prevent the reintroduction of COVID-19 into the UK,” said Steve Lindsay, a professor in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University who worked in the studio.
James Logan, disease control specialist at London School of Hygiene
British research, published online on Monday before being peer reviewed, is in addition to other pilot projects in Finland, Germany and Chile and they check COVID-trained tracker dogs at airports.
British test dogs were trained for several weeks by receiving two hundred odor samples from others who had tested positive for COVID-19, as well as two hundred samples from individuals with negative tests.
Dogs active in the trial detected a coronavirus odor in samples with a sensitivity of up to 94. 3%, which means a low threat of false negative results and up to 92% specificity, meaning a low threat of false positive results.
This accuracy is higher than recommended by the World Health Organization for the diagnosis of COVID-19, Logan’s team said, with dogs passing side tests, which have an overall sensitivity of between 58% and 77%.
Independent experts have warned that the effects will be replicated in real-world situations.
“This proof-of-concept test suggests that trained detector dogs can be used in places like airports, sports stadiums and concert halls,” said Lawrence Young, virologist and professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick.
“The big question is that this technique will be applied in the genuine global to other people than in samples of socks and shirts. “
(Report via Kate Kelland; edited through Janet Lawrence)