Study finds trained scent dogs can detect Covid more effectively than RT-PCR tests

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Trained scent dogs exhibit a remarkable ability to detect COVID-19 infections with higher accuracy and efficiency compared to conventional RT-PCR tests, according to a review of studies.This innovative approach not only promises quicker results but also holds the potential to substantially reduce diagnostic costs, the researchers said A growing number of studies over the last two years has highlighted the power of dogs in detecting the stealthy virus and its variants, even when they are obscured by other viruses, like those from common colds and flu. «It went from four papers to 29 peer-reviewed studies that include more than 400 scientists from over 30 countries and 31,000 samples,» said Tommy Dickey, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California (UC) Santa Barbara, US. Dickey and collaborator Heather Junqueira from BioScent, Inc. noted that the collective research demonstrates that trained scent dogs are «as effective and often more effective» than the antigen tests we're keeping handy at home, as well as the gold-standard reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests deployed in clinics and hospitals. According to the study, published in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, not only can dogs detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus faster, they can do so in a non-intrusive manner, without the environmental impact that comes with single-use plastics.

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Dogs have hundreds of millions of olfactory receptors, compared to roughly five to six million for humans, and a full third of their brains is devoted to interpreting smells, compared to a scant 5 per cent in human brains, the researchers said.