Dogs' sense of smell is their star sense. Much more developed than that of human beings, it allows them to follow trails, locate lost people or detect the presence of different drugs. In addition, they are even able to identify different diseases that affect human beings.
Given the current pandemic, could dogs help us diagnose COVID-19? In this article on our site, we are going to explain at what stage the studies are to find out if dogs detect the coronavirus.
The wonderful smell of dogs
The olfactory sensitivity of dogs is much higher than that of humans, as has been shown in different studies that yield surprising results on this great canine capacity. It is about its most advanced sense A very striking experiment was that of distinguishing between single and fraternal twins. The first were the only ones that the dogs could not distinguish as different people, as they had the same smell.
Thanks to this amazing capacity they can help us in very different tasks such as locating truffles, tracking game prey, detecting drugs, signaling bombs or rescues in catastrophes. Although it is perhaps a more unknown activity, dogs trained for it can detect the onset of crises in certain diseases and even some of them in an advanced state.
Although there are breeds especially gifted for it, such as bloodhounds, the marked development of this sense is a trait shared by all dogs. This is because your nose has more than 200 million odor receptor cells Humans have about five million. In addition, the olfactory center of the dog's brain is highly developed and the nasal cavity is richly innervated. Much of his brain is devoted to the interpretation of smell. It's better than any sensor humans have created. For all these reasons, it is not surprising that in this time of pandemic studies have been initiated to determine if dogs can detect the coronavirus.
How do dogs detect diseases?
Dogs' sense of smell is so fine that it allows them to detect diseases in people. Of course, it requires a previous training, in addition to current advances in medicine. The olfactory ability of dogs has proven effective in detecting pathologies such as prostate, bowel, ovarian, colon, lung or breast cancer, diabetes, malaria, Parkinson's or epilepsy.
Dogs can smell the specific volatile organic compounds or VOCs that are produced in certain diseases. In other words, each pathology has its own characteristic imprint that the dog is capable of discovering. In addition, it can do it already in the early stages of the disease, even before medical tests manage to diagnose them, and with an efficiency close to 100 percent. In the case of glucose, dogs are capable of warning up to 20 minutes before their blood level rises or falls.
early detection is essential to improve the prognosis of diseases such as cancer. In the same way, anticipating glucose increases in the case of diabetics or epileptic seizures is a very important benefit and an enormous improvement in the quality of life of those affected. In addition, it helps scientists to identify biomarkers with which to later develop tests to facilitate diagnosis.
Basically, dogs are taught to look for the characteristic chemical component of the disease you want to detect. To do this, they are offered samples of feces, urine, blood, saliva or tissues, so that they learn to recognize the odors that they will later have to discover directly in the sick person. If this is the case, they sit or stand in front of the sample to report that they are perceiving the indicated odour. When they work with people, they can warn them by touching them with their paw Training in this discipline lasts several months and, of course, is carried out by professionals. In view of all this scientific evidence, it is not surprising that in the current situation scientists have wondered if dogs detect the coronavirus.
Can dogs detect the coronavirus?
After years of experience detecting diseases, it is safe to say that dogs detect the coronavirus In fact, at the University of Helsinki have just finished some preliminary tests in which they have verified this capacity of the dogs. In addition, they detect the disease quickly and more sensitively than tests currently in use.
Positive tests with DogRisk's group of dogs
The trained dogs of the DogRisk group have managed to identify the virus in urine samples Therefore, they are currently in the collection of more samples to train more dogs and determine what exactly they identify and how long that smell remains after the infection is over. In addition, they are making it difficult for the dogs to work, including urine samples without coronavirus, but with other respiratory diseases, to ratify their sensitivity. They hope to move on to direct detection work soon.
Super Six Dogs: In Training
Also, in the UK there is also a canine team training to detect COVID-19. It is made up of six dogs and they are the Super Six (the Super Six). Three are Cocker Spaniels named Norman, Jasper and Asher. There is a Labrador Retriever that answers to the name of Star and a cross of this breed with a golden retriever, named Storm. The last component is Digby, a labradoodle. They are between 20 months and 5 years old. The objective is that they detect the smell of the virus in less than a second and that they can do so with both patients with symptoms and those who are asymptomatic. Therefore, rapid and non-invasive diagnoses would be achieved. To do this, they are collecting breath and sweat samples from sick people. The organization Medical Detection Dogs is in charge of this project together with the University of Durham. They expect to finish the training in 6-8 weeks to start working directly with people. The idea is that they do not contact them, but smell the air around them to minimize any risk.
In addition to these teams, dogs are also being trained in the United States. Specifically, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine they are working with eight dogs. They are expected to be ready in a matter of weeks.
On the other hand, various organizations in Spain and other parts of the world are also considering the option of training dogs to detect COVID-19.
Coronavirus and animals
Now that you know that dogs can detect the coronavirus, as well as other diseases, you may also be interested in reading some of these other articles related to COVID-19 and animals:
- Coronavirus and cats - What we know about COVID-19
- How do I clean my dog's paws when I get home during lockdown?
- How to relax a cat?
- Online Veterinarians - Pet Services
- Veterinarian and state of alarm - When and how to go
- De-escalation and pets – Consequences and recommendations
