Coronavirus Sniffer Dogs NHS Trial If Dogs Can Detect COVID-19

Coronavirus Sniffer Dog

The NHS superstars are due to undergo a slightly strange way of testing for COVID-19. By letting Coronavirus Sniffer Dogs smell their stinky socks and clothes!

NHS workers in London have signed up to the test to determine if Coronavirus Sniffer Dogs can sniff out Covid-19. (Doglys own dog Bentley can certainly sniff out a sock with no problem!)

25 employees from University College Hospital will get the Coronavirus Sniffer Dogs to sniff their socks and T-shirts to see if they are able to detect if COVID-19 is present.

The project funded by the Government is managed by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine alongside the Medical Detection Dogs charity.

In recent years dogs have successfully been able to detect Parkinson’s disease and even some cancers. Recent and on going research has suggested that viruses could have the ability to give of micro odours.

If the trial is successful, the dogs could offer a rapid method of virus detection in places like airports. The project could mean Coronavirus Sniffer Dogs could be deployed in the near future. This will allow sniffing of around 250 people per hour which is ideal in places with queues such as airports.

NHS employees have regular tests sometimes everyday and are sometimes asymptomatic so they don’t know they have it. The volunteers will provide their clothing which will be used to test the sniffer dogs.

Each item of clothing will be analysed in the lab to log odours when someone is infected with Covid-19. Then they will be sent to Medical Detection Dogs to train the dogs to detect the correct smell.

Professor James Logan, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, thanked all the NHS heros

A huge thank you to NHS staff and their families who are supporting this vital research. If successful, this trial could revolutionise how we diagnose the virus, leading to the rapid screening of high numbers of people, even if asymptomatic, helping return our lives back to some sort of normality.

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