Veterinary school l’École Nationale Vétérinaire in Paris, France announced on May 25 the results of its research on training german shepherds to detect COVID-19. The French researchers published data showing the canines had a 95% success rate of recognizing the scent of the virus.
According to The Connexion, the trial was conducted by having dogs identify the presence of the virus by smelling sweat samples taken from COVID-19 positive individuals.
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Sweat samples were collected from both infected and non-infected subjects with the help of hospital Beaujon de Clichy. The samples were then used to soak pieces of cotton wool which were placed in metal cones afterward.
German Shepherds were made to identify whether the sweat sample was infected or not through their sense of smell. The majority of the results were accurate at 95%. The dogs used in the trial are experienced sniffer dogs who underwent 4 days of additional training to sniff out COVID-19.
“Where we are today, we can say that there is a specific smell in the sweat of people of people who are COVID-positive, so carriers of the virus,” Professor Dominique Grandjean, who led the trial, explained.
“We could make the dogs available to local governments so that people can be tested without pain, for free and eventually, every day,” he added.
However, more trials need to be conducted before the sniffer dogs can be utilized by the French government.
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