This body part can determine if you have COVID: Study
This body part can determine if you have COVID: Study
Till
now nasal and oral swabs have been the most common means of testing for
COVID-19, but there is yet another body part that can determine if you
have contracted the novel coronavirus. According to a new study, dogs
may be able to sniff out COVID-19 somewhere else on the human body.
The body part
According
to a recent study published in PLOS One, trained dogs can detect
coronavirus in humans by sniffing the sweat from their armpits.
The study
The
study included 177 people, 95 of whom were symptomatic cases of
COVID-19 and 82 had no symptoms and neither tested positive. The latter
category had their underarms sweat tested by a group of six trained
dogs. Three dogs were trained to sniff out explosives, two were trained
in colon cancer detection and one was trained as a rescue and search
dog.
These dogs were trained to detect COVID-19 by smelling the sweat of a COVID positive patient and then subsequently asked to sniff out the same scent from a random group of COVID-19 positive and negative patients. Among the six trained dogs, the accuracy rates for sniffing out COVID-19 ranged between 76 per cent to 100 per cent.
Verdict
Based
on these findings, the authors of the study concluded that "exploring
the possibility of using dog olfactory detection as a rapid, reliable
and cheap 'tool' to pre-screen people or perform rapid checking in
certain circumstances is important."
This body part can determine if you have COVID: Study
Till
now nasal and oral swabs have been the most common means of testing for
COVID-19, but there is yet another body part that can determine if you
have contracted the novel coronavirus. According to a new study, dogs
may be able to sniff out COVID-19 somewhere else on the human body.
The body part
According
to a recent study published in PLOS One, trained dogs can detect
coronavirus in humans by sniffing the sweat from their armpits.
The study
The
study included 177 people, 95 of whom were symptomatic cases of
COVID-19 and 82 had no symptoms and neither tested positive. The latter
category had their underarms sweat tested by a group of six trained
dogs. Three dogs were trained to sniff out explosives, two were trained
in colon cancer detection and one was trained as a rescue and search
dog.
These dogs were trained to detect COVID-19 by smelling the sweat of a COVID positive patient and then subsequently asked to sniff out the same scent from a random group of COVID-19 positive and negative patients. Among the six trained dogs, the accuracy rates for sniffing out COVID-19 ranged between 76 per cent to 100 per cent.
Verdict
Based
on these findings, the authors of the study concluded that "exploring
the possibility of using dog olfactory detection as a rapid, reliable
and cheap 'tool' to pre-screen people or perform rapid checking in
certain circumstances is important."