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The dogs and the bees are coming up next. Both vastly different types of animals are being tested for their ability to detect COVID in humans. When it comes to medical tests that diagnose COVID, there are two main options, the antigen or rapid test and the polymerase test.
Both collect samples by sticking a swab through your nose but one looks for COVID related protein fragments while the other uses enzymes to seek out the genetic material of COVID-19. But what if there's an accurate way to test people without using a swab and without really having to wait at all for test results?
Man's best friend could be a new ally in the fight to contain coronavirus. A new UK study says highly trained dogs in controlled conditions maybe able to sniff out and identify COVID-19 infections in humans.
STEVE LINDSAY: Our previous work with using dogs showed we were able to detect people with malaria by their scent. So we thought, well at the beginning of the pandemic, let's see whether our dogs could detect people with COVID.
The results of an early stage study which hasn't been yet peered reviewed say dogs picked up the scent of COVID-19 on the clothing of infected people, up to 94 percent of the time. And they were even able to detect asymptomatic cases. Standard PCR tests are the best tests for COVID-19 but they can't beat the dogs with the speed of the results. The pups are winning that by a nose.
STEVE LINDSAY: That's really a quite very high level of precision. They could detect people with low viral loads just as readily as they could those people with high viral loads.
Six dogs participated in the study. A group of Labradors, Golden Retrievers and Cocker Spaniels trained for six to eight weeks to recognize the scent of the virus. Researchers say dogs could one day be used in high volume areas like airports and concert arenas to screen for infections.
CLAIRE GUEST: This could make a huge difference as we start to come out of lockdown and people start to travel. It will hopefully assist in getting us all back to a more normal life.
But critics say it could be hard for the dogs to match their success in the lab in the real world. Since some scents in crowded areas quickly disperse. There are pilot projects using COVID-19 sniffer dogs in airports underway in Finland, Germany and Chile.
