What does a pandemic smell like? If dogs could talk, they would be able to tell us.
We are part of an international research team, led by Dominique Grandjean at the National Veterinary School of France, which has been training detective dogs since March to detect traces of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
These detector dogs are trained using sweat samples from people infected with COVID-19. When introduced to a line with sweat tests, most dogs can detect a positive from a line with negative with 100% accuracy.
All over the world, coronavirus detector dogs are trained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Belgium.
In the UAE, detector dogs – stationed at various airports – have already begun to help control efforts to control the spread of COVID-19. This is something we hope to see available in Australia soon.
A sharp nose – Our international colleagues found detector dogs were able to detect SARS-CoV-2 in infected people when they were still asymptomatic, before testing positive later.
When it comes to SARS-CoV-2 detection, we do not know for sure what the dogs smell.
The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) given in the suspended solids are a complex mix. So it is likely that the dogs will discover a particular profile instead of individual connections.
Sweat is used for testing because it is not considered contagious to COVID-19. This means that it presents less risk when handling samples.
COVID-19 Sniffing Dogs in Australia – Here in Australia we are currently working with professional trainers of detector dogs in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. The most common breed used to date is the German Shepherd, in which several other breeds were also involved.
We are also negotiating with health authorities to collect sweat samples from people who have tested positive for the virus, and from those who are negative. We hope to start collecting these within the next few months.
We will have to collect thousands of negative samples to make sure the dogs do not detect any other viral infection, such as the common cold or flu. In other countries, they have passed this test with flying colors.
Once operational, detector dogs in Australia could be enormously valuable in many scenarios, such as screening people at airports and state borders, or supervising staff working daily in elderly care facilities and hospitals (so they do not require repeated testing).
To properly train a dog to detect SARS-CoV-2, it takes:
- 6-8 weeks for a dog that is already trained to detect other odors, if
- 3-6 months for a dog that has never been trained.
Could the dogs spread the virus further? – Dogs in experimental studies have not been shown to be able to replicate the virus (in their body). Simply put, they are not even a source of infection.
Currently, there are two case reports in the world of dogs potentially infected with the COVID-19 virus by their owners. Those dogs did not get sick.
To further reduce all potential risks of transmission to humans and dogs, the device used to train the dogs does not allow direct contact between the dog’s nose and the glider.
The dog’s nose goes into a stainless steel cone, with the floating monster in a bucket behind. Allows for free access to the volatile oil factor compounds, but no physical contact.
Furthermore, all dogs trained to detect COVID-19 are regularly monitored by nasal swab tests, rectal swab tests and blood tests to identify antibodies. So far, none of the detector dogs have been found infected.
Hard to jump – Now and in the future it will be important for us to identify all cases where detector dogs can present false positions (signaling a sample is positive if it is negative) or false negatives (signaling the sample is negative if it is positive is).
We also hope that our work can reveal exactly which volatile oil factor compound (s) are specific for COVID-19 infection.
This knowledge can help us understand the disease process, arising from COVID-19 infection – and in detecting other diseases with the help of detector dogs.
This pandemic has been a major challenge for everyone. Asymptomatic people may find those infected with the coronavirus would be a game-changer – and that’s what we need right now.
A friend to us (and science) – Maybe we should not be surprised at the ability of dogs to detect COVID-19, because we already know that their noses are awesome.
Dogs can help detect hypoglycemia in diabetics, warn people who are about to have an epileptic seizure and have been used to sniff out some cancers.
Their great potential in dealing with today’s pandemic is just one of many examples of how dogs enrich our lives.
We acknowledge Professor Riad Sarkis of Saint Joseph University (Beirut) and Clothilde Lecoq-Julien of Alfort Veterinary School (France) for the first time discussing the idea that this work returned in March.
This article was originally published on The Conversation by Susan Hazel en Anne-Lise Chaber at the University of Adelaide. Read the original article here.
