Dogs Can Be Trained To Sniff Out 90% Covid Cases, Even Asymptomatic, Finds Study

The dog's remarkable sense of smell has been already proved where dogs can sniff out maladies such as cancer, malaria and epilepsy.

Bobby the K9 retriever dog sniffs sweat samples, in order to detect the Covid-19 coronavirus through volatile organic compounds, at the Faculty of Veterinary Science in Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok on May 21, 2021. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP

New Delhi: Here’s a news to cheer for pet owners! If you go by the latest research, trained dogs are capable of identifying 90 per cent of Covid-19 infections irrespective of whether cases are asymptomatic.

What’s the latest finding?

In a latest research from a team of scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, found evidence that dogs can sniff out the deadly virus. The findings of the public research university based in London also supported the studies of previous researches including a recent French study which revealed that dogs were able to identify the virus with 97 per cent accuracy. Also Read: Mucormycosis Scare: Black Fungus Diagnosed In Intestine Of 2 Covid Patients In Delhi

The study which is yet to be peer reviewed is available to read as a pre-print. The remarkable sense of smell has already been proved where dogs can sniff out maladies such as cancer, malaria and epilepsy. In the latest study, scientists used the socks of 200 Covid-19 patients, and arranged in lab tests for six dogs that had been trained to indicate either a presence or absence of the chemical compound.

The researchers found that using dogs to screen arrivals at terminuses such as airports could detect 91 percent of cases, resulting in a 2.24 times lower rate of transmission than with PCR tests alone, as per AFP.

"What we're suggesting is that dogs would give the first initial screening, and then those (arrivals) that were indicated as positive would then receive a complimentary PCR test," said said co-author James Logan.

Why are dogs sensitive to such scents?

It is because dogs are said to have over 220 million scent receptors (in comparison, humans have 5 million) and are over 100,000 times more accurate at identifying scents.

This has made dogs to successfully sniff out multiple different types of cancer, alongside other diseases like malaria and Parkinson's.