Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. MailOnline – Sniffer dogs are more effective than rapid tests at detecting cases of Covid-19 and could soon be deployed at airports, according to a major British study.
Researchers found coronavirus has a ‘distinctive odour’ that means specially-trained medical detection dogs can identify infected people, even those without symptoms.
Astonishingly, the dogs are able to detect up to 94 per cent per cent of cases – making them significantly more accurate than rapid lateral flow tests.
The authors said their findings had ‘exceeded all expectations’ and that dogs could be used at workplaces, theatres and stadiums to help Britain get back to normal.
The scientists, from the University of Durham and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), are currently in discussions with the Department of Health and the World Health Organisation about deploying dogs at airports.
They said two dogs could screen 300 passengers coming off a plane for Covid-19 in just 30 minutes. People identified as positive by the dogs would then receive a PCR test to confirm the results.
The charity Medical Detection Dogs trained the dogs to detect Covid-19 scent by using more than 3,500 body odour samples consisting of socks and t-shirts from members of the public and NHS staff.
After eight weeks of training, the dogs were then tested on their ability to detect the virus in a highly controlled randomised trial, using 200 positive samples and 200 negative samples.
Six dogs were used including three Labradors called Lexie, Tala and Marlow. The other three were Cocker Spaniel Asher, Golden Retriever Millie, and Kip, a Labrador x Retriever.
All the dogs performed well, with more than 82 per cent accuracy. Three-year-old Labrador Tala was found to have the best nose for Covid, with an accuracy of 94.3 per cent. PCR tests detect 97 per cent of cases while lateral flow tests have an accuracy between 58 and 77 per cent.
Dr Clare Guest, Chief Scientific Officer of Medical Detection Dogs, said she was immensely proud of the dogs, hailing their ‘remarkable and incredible’ achievements.
She said: ‘Two of our dogs – Kip and Asher – were actually rescue dogs with very poor starts in life. Look at what they’ve gone on to achieve.
