News Scan for May 09, 2022

Study: Dogs can sniff out COVID-19 infections with high success ratesIn a study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, researchers showed canine olfaction—or dog sniffing—was both highly sensitive and specific when it came to identifying patients with COVID-19, even those who were asymptomatic or presymptomatic.The researchers, based in Hawaii, exposed dogs to sweat samples from 584 participants (ages 6 to 97 years; 24% positive SARS CoV-2 samples and 76% negative SARS CoV-2 samples).

Samples were collected from cotton pads runs cross the necks of participants, and the dogs had no prior history of scent training.During the first part of the study, the testing phase, the dogs detected SARS-CoV-2 from cotton pad samples with a diagnostic sensitivity of 98% and a specificity of 92%.In the second part of the study, a follow-up screening test in a hospital setting, a single dog screened 153 patients before surgery, and results were compared to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing.

The dog performed with 96.4% diagnostic sensitivity and 100% specificity."The results confirm that canines can be taught to discriminate between sweat samples from SARS-CoV-2-positive and SARS-CoV-2-negative individuals," the authors concluded. "Sensitivity and specificity were equally high in an implementation phase which took place in a hospital, demonstrating the potential for medical detection dogs to provide screening for COVID-19 in public places such as hospitals, schools, and businesses."The authors said dog sniffing could be considered a useful tool for virus detection, especially in places or settings where mass rapid or PCR testing would be improbable.May 7 Open Forum Infect Dis studyCOVID study: Omicron patients shed more live