Trained dogs sniff out coronavirus cases with 94% accuracy, finds German study

Going beyond swab tests and antibody tests to detect coronavirus cases, a German veterinary university has found a new way of identifying coronavirus cases. They have trained dogs to detect coronavirus cases!

According to a report in Bloomberg, eight dogs from the German armed forces were trained for a week to study coronavirus cases. The University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover found that among the 1,000 people presented before them, the dogs identified the coronavirus positive cases with 94% accuracy.

The researchers at the veterinary university made the dogs sniff the saliva of 1,000 people with some among them being samples of coronavirus positive patients. The trained dogs managed to accurately identify the coronavirus cases from the bunch of samples.

A professor behind the pilot project explained the findings saying the metabolism of a coronavirus patient is completely different and dogs are able to detect this difference through smell. Dogs have a smelling capacity 1,000-times stronger than humans.

Researchers believe this finding can help use dogs to sniff out suspected coronavirus cases at airports, border crossings and stadiums and other busy areas quite easily, said the report.

The study was jointly conducted by the German armed forces and the Hannover veterinary school.

The researchers have said the next step will be to train the dogs to differentiate between Covid-19 and other diseases like influenza etc.