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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDogs can sniff out COVID-19 with 94 percent accuracy, study says
Mans best friend could soon be mans best chance at ever setting foot in a stadium again.
Dogs can sniff out the coronavirus with a striking 94 percent accuracy rate raising the possibility of instant tests at sporting events and airports, according to a new study.
Canine handlers trained eight dogs from Germanys Armed Forces to discern human saliva infected with COVID-19 from healthy saliva, according to the study, which was lead by the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover and the Hanover Medical School.
Researchers then set up samples from 1,000 people at random, ordered the dogs to pinpoint the infected ones and found the animals were accurate 94 percent of the time, according to the study.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/29/dogs-can-sniff-out-coronavirus-with-94-accuracy-study-says/amp/
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)LonePirate
(13,446 posts)I would like to see more studies performed. While I think it is possible dogs can smell something directly attributable to the virus, I also think human error could be a factor here unless other studies reach a similar conclusion.
Mosby
(16,422 posts)beagles have been trained to sniff out cancer cells so who knows.
Ms. Toad
(34,131 posts)We think that the dogs are able to detect a specific smell of the metabolic changes that occur in those patients, Maren von Koeckritz-Blickwede, a professor at the university who conducted the study, said in a Youtube video about the experiment.
Link to the study https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-020-05281-3
BannonsLiver
(16,548 posts)Dogs have been used by epileptics to signal seizures are about to happen. Some can even smell the breath of diabetics and alert them to problems.
https://can-do-canines.org/our-dogs/ourdogs/diabetes-assist-dogs/
But of course this being DU we have an abundance of Holiday Inn Express epidemiologists who think they have some special insight. (Not talking about you.)
Ms. Toad
(34,131 posts)intrepidity
(7,380 posts)For example, did they included negative controls such as saliva from people with the flu? A cold?
But knowing dogs, this study is probably accurate.
Yay dogs!
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)Thanks.
renate
(13,776 posts)More dogs = merrier
Ohiogal
(32,203 posts)And especially Labrador Retrievers....
LakeArenal
(28,893 posts)leftieNanner
(15,207 posts)Saliva??
No comment.
ProfessorGAC
(65,434 posts)Easy to expand the study and verify, too.
flamingdem
(39,342 posts)They are often the super spreaders of Covid.
Solomon
(12,323 posts)BannonsLiver
(16,548 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,261 posts).
.
Nevilledog
(51,303 posts)Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)I think I had Covid in January. My dogs were really acting strange the whole time I was sick, and would hardly leave my side for at least a month after.
I thought they were just a little unnerved by the fact that I was so sick, and had hardly left the couch for a week.
Maybe they knew it was something worse than the flu I thought it was at the time.
JDC
(10,152 posts)This does not surprise me at all. Amazing animals.
Doreen
(11,686 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)They are even more accurate than a test, and much cuter too!