Canines have been used for decades to sniff out drugs, bombs, dead bodies and even cancer.
Now a team of British researchers are training dogs to see if they can sniff out coronavirus in people, including those who don’t have any symptoms.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine recently discovered canines can detect malaria infections in humans and they are investigating whether the same is true for COVID-19.
The training began in March and researchers are eyeing six weeks as enough time to determine if the dogs can sniff out the virus.
If so, these dogs could be deployed to screen up to 250 people per hour.
They caution it won’t replace traditional testing but rather be used as a supplement since COVID-19 tests are in short supply and often take hours or days for results to come back.
The dogs could be used at airports or other public areas to help prevent another outbreak once the current epidemic declines.
Posted – 4.20.20