Coronavirus: Dogs being trained to diagnose bug and could screen 750 people an hour

Mirror - UK ^ | April 17, 2020 | Julie McCaffrey

[billorites]

A new project will see the dogs receive samples of fabric worn by coronavirus patients to see if the virus has a unique odour which they can detect which could allow them to screen people These dogs are to be trained to sniff out the coronavirus and, if the world-leading project is a success, they could screen 750 people an hour.

Medical detection dogs have already been trained to detect diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s and malaria.

The Covid-19 project, the only one of its kind in the world, is a collaboration between the Medical Detection Dogs charity, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Durham University.

Professor James Logan, Head of the Department of Disease Control at the LSHTM, said: “It’s exciting because the project could move at speed as there are six dogs ready to be trained.”

Within the next few weeks, the dogs will receive samples of fabric worn by coronavirus patients to see if Covid-19 has a unique odour which they can detect.

Around eight weeks later, the animals, many of them rescue dogs, could be ready to identify the odour of coronavirus on people, taking just half a second to do so.

Dr Claire Guest, CEO and founder of the Medical Detection Dogs charity, said: “There have already been so many fantastic achievements in the dogs’ work to detect human disease, and I believe they can be trained to sniff out Covid-19.

[billorites]

[chris37]

My dogs been lookin’ at me funny lately. I think they know something.

[cableguymn]

Mine too..

Then I realized my inner biden kicked in and I forgot to feed them.

dodged the bullet there.

[budj]

And if you're positive, wellll ... ... ...l

[real saxophonist]

Wow, dogs are being trained to diagnose?

That's more than many doctors can to.

[rktman]

Hey, supposedly covid patients are being shot in Yemen.

[HotKat]

A new job for Joe Bided?

[HotKat]

Biden

[gandalftb]

I had a dog that could smell buried clams. If a blow hole had a clam he would start digging. If not, he would sit and watch me dig while twisting his head at me.
..............
The dog was never wrong. I wish he would have done that when I introduced a new girl friend to him. Would have saved a lot of trouble......

[_longranger81]

How much do I owe you for the Lab report, Doc?

[libertylover]

So, if you have coronavirus there’s a high concentration of it in your crotch?

[chris37]

Hah! :D

Three German Shepherds. If I forget to feed them, I become the food. They know where I sleep.

[Wonder Warthog]

How about “Bidet” instead...more appropriate.

[neverevergiveup]

“That's more than many doctors can to.”

But at least you don't have to pick up your doctor's doo-doo.

[gloryblaze]

I’ve been hearing about this strong trait in dogs forever. Nothing ever comes of it. An ER with a pooch doing the tests? I doubt it. No degrees or million dollar machines.

[Tallguy]

Perhaps there’s ‘something’ to a dog being able to sense the presence of cancer, but detecting a virus? I dunno...

[real saxophonist]

But at least you don't have to pick up your doctor's doo-doo.

I guess that would depend on the doctor... 8~)

[freefdny]

I think this is the way sporting events,cruises,and many other venues are going to start up again. Dogs at all entrances checking people as they come in. Although it does make me think of the scene from Terminator where the humans were using dogs to detect the cyborgs.

[Zhang Fei]

[Perhaps there’s ‘something’ to a dog being able to sense the presence of cancer, but detecting a virus? I dunno...]

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They don’t sense it - they smell it. Comes from having a sense of smell way more sensitive than a human. They can literally smell their owners long before they can see them.

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https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/dogs-sense-of-smell/
[Dogs’ sense of smell overpowers our own by orders of magnitude—it’s 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute, scientists say. “Let’s suppose they’re just 10,000 times better,” says James Walker, former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, who, with several colleagues, came up with that jaw-dropping estimate during a rigorously designed, oft-cited study. “If you make the analogy to vision, what you and I can see at a third of a mile, a dog could see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well.”]

[bravo whiskey]

It’s a dog eat dog world out there and I am wearing Milkbone underwear.