Phys.org April 15, 2021
In a proof-of-concept study a team of researchers in the US (U Penn, industry) utilized detection dogs to investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 positive urine and saliva patient samples had a unique odor signature. Using detergent-inactivated urine samples, dogs were initially trained to find samples collected from hospitalized patients confirmed with SARS-CoV-2 infection, while ignoring samples collected from controls. Dogs were then tested on their ability to spontaneously recognize heat-treated urine samples as well as heat-treated saliva from hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. Dogs successfully discriminated between infected and uninfected urine samples, regardless of the inactivation protocol, as well as heat-treated saliva samples. Major lessons learned are dogs can detect SARS-CoV-2 odor, dogs should be trained on large numbers of diverse samples…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Poncho, a two-and-a-half-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, was one of the dogs trained in a Penn Vet-led study… Credit: Pat Nolan.