Dogs Might Be Able To Sniff Out Coronavirus In Asymptomatic Patients

A team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) believes that dogs can be trained to sniff out people who are infected with COVID-19. The team previously trained labradors and cocker spaniels to detect malaria and believe that dogs can be trained to identify sick patients, even if they are not showing symptoms.

“We know diseases have odors — including respiratory diseases such as influenza — and that those odors are in fact quite distinct," James Logan, Head of the Department of Disease Control at LSHTM said. "There is a very, very good chance that Covid-19 has a specific odor, and if it does I am really confident that the dogs would be able to learn that smell and detect it.”

The researchers are crowdfunding their effort on Indiegogo, and hope to have dogs trained within six weeks. They think the dogs could screen up to 250 people per hour and could be used at airports and other ports of entry to quickly identify carriers of the virus in a noninvasive way.

“The aim is that dogs will be able to screen anyone, including those who are asymptomatic and tell us whether they need to be tested. This would be fast, effective and non-invasive and make sure the limited NHS testing resources are only used where they are really needed.”

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