{"id":35963,"date":"2022-08-26T18:26:29","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T18:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19"},"modified":"2022-08-26T18:47:38","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T18:47:38","slug":"a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19","title":{"rendered":"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a litter of puppies was born at the University of Namibia (UNAM) School of Veterinary Medicine (SoVM).<\/p>\n

The coinciding events would prove fundamental to the start of the Namibia Detection Dog Project.<\/p>\n

The beagle pups would become part of an elite Covid-19 detection unit.<\/p>\n

Medical detection dogs are already trained to spot the scent of malaria, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease. But could dogs be used to sniff out Covid-19?<\/p>\n

According to Dr Anna Marais, Associate Dean of the UNAM School of Veterinary Medicine, \u201cdogs have 300 million smell receptors in their noses, while humans only have around 5 million. More active genes that code olfactory data make dogs\u2019 sense of smell hundreds of times more powerful than that of humans. The anatomy of the dog skull also provides a lot of space for these molecules to attach to the smell receptors\u201d.<\/p>\n

Similar projects were already running in France, Finland, the UAE, and the UK \u2013 and now, the adorable litter of pups from the university\u2019s existing colony would sniff their way to the launch of Africa\u2019s first Covid-sniffing dog pilot project.<\/p>\n

According to a statement released to the media, SoVM veterinarians identified an experienced dog trainer to work on the project. They enlisted the support of four volunteer dog handlers, including a veterinary nurse, a veterinary para-professional, a postgraduate student and a theatre assistant from the SoVM\u2019s staff, to start with the obedience training of four dogs.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Dog Detection Trust was established, with Justice Dave Smuts, Dr Salomo Amadhila and Dr Conrad Brain as founding members. They aim to share information with international researchers and raise funds to build and equip a dedicated dog detection training unit.<\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s Pet Nutrition joined the project to look after the nutritional needs of all the dogs in the programme and donated over R100 000 to the project in Namibia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to be part of this revolutionary work, as well as helping to find an affordable and feasible way of detecting this virus and potentially others in the future,\u201d Dr Guy Fyvie, Veterinary Advisor at Hill\u2019s Pet Nutrition, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

According to Dr Marais, the results from the pilot project Covid-19 sniffing results to date \u201care extremely promising and indicate a similar pattern as those emerging from collaborative projects abroad, with the SoVM dogs presently able to identify well over 80% of the samples correctly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis indicates that dog detection of Covid-19 could potentially be an affordable and reproducible method in the detection of the virus and control thereof, especially in low-income countries with limited lab space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Covid-19 sniffing training continues when samples permit, while other dogs are trained to detect wildlife products, narcotics, and explosives.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a litter of puppies was born at the University of Namibia (UNAM) School of Veterinary Medicine (SoVM). The coinciding events would prove fundamental to the start of the Namibia Detection Dog Project. The beagle pups would become part of an elite Covid-19 detection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":35962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[274,315,246,3164,275],"class_list":["post-35963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-covid-19","tag-dogs","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nA litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19 - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a litter of puppies was born at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Sc ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a litter of puppies was born at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Sc ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-26T18:26:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-26T18:47:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-26T18:26:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-26T18:47:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19\"},\"wordCount\":487,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"Covid-19\",\"dogs\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19\",\"name\":\"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19 - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-26T18:26:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-26T18:47:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a litter of puppies was born at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Sc ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19 - South Africa","description":"In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a litter of puppies was born at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Sc ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19","og_description":"In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a litter of puppies was born at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Sc ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-08-26T18:26:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-26T18:47:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19","datePublished":"2022-08-26T18:26:29+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-26T18:47:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19"},"wordCount":487,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","Covid-19","dogs","South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","community","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19","name":"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19 - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-26T18:26:29+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-26T18:47:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a litter of puppies was born at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Sc ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_36-63091533c0349.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"caption":"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-litter-of-puppies-born-in-namibia-in-2020-have-been-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A litter of puppies born in Namibia in 2020 have been trained to sniff out Covid-19"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}