Post by M. Hawbaker on Feb 10, 2021 4:47:06 GMT
HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - A German veterinary clinic has trained sniffer dogs to detect the novel coronavirus in human saliva samples with 94% accuracy.
The dogs are conditioned to scent out the "corona odour" that comes from cells in infected people, said Esther Schalke, a vet at Germany's armed forces school for service dogs.
Filou, a 3-year-old Belgian Shepherd, and Joe Cocker, a 1-year-old Cocker Spaniel, are two of the dogs being trained at Hanover's University of Veterinary Medicine.
"We did a study where we had dogs sniffing samples from COVID-positive patients and we can say that they have a 94% probability in our study ... that they can sniff them out," said Holger Volk, head of the veterinary clinic.
"So dogs can really sniff out people with infections and without infections, as well as asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID patients," he added.
The dogs are conditioned to scent out the "corona odour" that comes from cells in infected people, said Esther Schalke, a vet at Germany's armed forces school for service dogs.
Filou, a 3-year-old Belgian Shepherd, and Joe Cocker, a 1-year-old Cocker Spaniel, are two of the dogs being trained at Hanover's University of Veterinary Medicine.
"We did a study where we had dogs sniffing samples from COVID-positive patients and we can say that they have a 94% probability in our study ... that they can sniff them out," said Holger Volk, head of the veterinary clinic.
"So dogs can really sniff out people with infections and without infections, as well as asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID patients," he added.
