Scientists from the London School of Tropical Medicine, Durham University, and the group Medical Detention Dogs have said dogs can be trained to detect COVID-19 infections.
The research has yet to be peer-reviewed but authors hope the screening of clothing and face masks could replace the need to quarantine travelers after a flight.
Data shows this could be more effective than temperature checking. Dogs screening at airport terminals were able to detect 91% of cases. Thailand recently deployed dogs to detect COVID-19 by sniffing samples of human sweat.
Dogs have long been trained to detect odors associated with drugs or explosives, as well as malaria, cancer and diabetes, but “this is the first time that dogs are able to detect a viral disease in humans,” said Dominique Grandjean, a professor at the National Veterinary School of Alfort in France. Sniffing tests would also cost as little as a dollar and take seconds, compared to the expensive prices and time constraints of PCR testing.
Dogs who sniff Covid could be coming to an airport near you