Trained Dogs Can Spot COVID-19 In Humans With 94% Accuracy
KEY POINTS
German researchers found trained sniffing dogs can distinguish between samples of COVID-19 patients and healthy people
After sniffing over 1,000 samples, the dogs were able to accurately detect 157 positive identifications
The accuracy was a whopping 94%
It is a known fact that dogs have an amazing sense of smell and are capable of actively sniffing out diseases including deadly cancers and viral infections. Now, a new study pointed out that dogs can detect COVID-19.
Thanks to over 300 million receptors in their noses, dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell and have been used to detect bombs, drugs, health ailments, etc. Researchers pointed out SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 will soon be added to the list of medical conditions dogs can detect.
The ongoing pandemic highlights the importance of fast and reliable testing for accurate identification of all types of SARS-CoV-2 carriers to reduce the spread of infection. Current testing methods require nasopharyngeal swabs applied by a trained person and an RT-PCR test for pathogen identification. Since this can be time-consuming, there is a need for additional faster, reliable, non-invasive and versatile screening tools to detect symptomatic, asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases.
The researchers trained eight German army detection dogs for a week to detect saliva and other samples isolated from the lungs and windpipe of COVID-19 patients.
More here:
https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-testing-trained-dogs-can-spot-covid-19-humans-94-accuracy-3021563
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This seems to be something well worth looking into immediately!
Leave it to man's best friend to deliver an answer to the world!
