Can Dogs Detect COVID-19?

By Amy Fernandez

The second most depressing news item these days has got to be the endless delays and problems associated with comprehensive testing to detect antibody titers, latent infection–the whole gamut. With hopes of an effective vaccine at least a year away, this has become our light at the end of the tunnel. Never mind jumpstarting the economy, at this point there is no appealing way to frame the concept of “a day off at home”.  Since nearly everyone keeps up with the news (for lack of other diversions), let’s not dwell on that start and stumble.  What we need is a reliable Geiger counter sort of deal. Some kind of on-the-spot indicator, right now… and maybe we got one.

As we know, the official rollout is not going well. Britain recently invested about twenty million dollars in the latest mortifying diagnostic testing backstep. However, researchers in one of their far less glamorous programs may have hit on an interim patch kit to get civilization back on tap.

Remember back in January–jeezz, it seems like ages–when everyone was assured that airport screening checkpoints would ID and corral any coronavirus carriers before ….let’s leave it there. However, most heavily trafficked ports of entry are set up to routinely screen visitors for several communicable diseases.

We also know that medical detection dogs now comprise a growing branch of that biz. Science is still speculating about how they do it, but there’s no longer any question that the canine olfactory sense is uncanny. It’s successfully utilized to detect a range of human health disorders from cancer to impending epileptic seizures. Just to clarify, a dog’s signal is generally the precursor to more standardized testing, but every physiological change includes changes in body chemistry.

Assuming that every disease has a signature scent, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine embarked on research to test this theory.  That led to a pilot program in collaboration with Britain’s Medical Detection Dog charity located in otherwise bland and dismal Milton Keynes, which currently trains dogs to recognize malaria. That program is based on simple established facts, mosquitoes are the primary malaria vector and infected individuals are even more alluring to them, which hastens dissemination of this deadly disease that kills millions annually. Theoretically, if mosquitoes can detect its presence, so can dogs. And initial results confirmed a 70 percent success rate. The dogs were not infallible, but that’s not the point. Obviously, regardless of methodology, indication of a life-threatening medical condition merits further investigation.

We are all hoping that scientific technology yields lifesaving breakthroughs in the future. But detection dogs just may provide a desperately needed quick workaround to spot likely candidates for follow-up testing, which would definitely enhance the scattershot methods currently at hand. And since dogs–unlike cats–appear to be fairly resistant to this type of respiratory virus, it might also help to limit potentially dangerous direct contact required for wide scale testing. Detection dogs may also offer the screening safety net we are going to need when we eventually get a grip on COVID-19. But time is of the essence in this deal.

Until then, stay safe. Dog life is getting thoroughly out of hand around here. You know it’s bad when you order takeaway spareribs for THEM! But I did draw the line at eating them on the sofa.

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Posted by chesliepickett on May 1 2020. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.