Researchers Find Finland’s COVID-19 Sniffer Dog Trial ‘Extremely Positive’
Scientists recently said a preliminary project using a sniffer dog to provide immediate and painless COVID-19 testing at Helsinki airport has presented "promising early results and proven popular with travelers."
The dogs, namely, Kossi, ET, and Miina, have sniffed swabs that came from more than 2,000 passengers in the month since the setting up of the booth at the arrival hall of the airport and have detected the virus in around 0.6 percent of the travelers.
Reports on the study said, even though it is not "due for completion until December this year," the researchers said their preliminary findings appear primarily in line with detention rates of the PCR tests performed on travelers arriving at the airport.
According to Vantaa deputy mayor, Timo Aronkyto, they have done 16,000 t 17,000 PCR tests at the airport, and below one percent of the travelers are found positive.
ALSO READ: Researchers Find a Correlation Between Zinc Deficiency and Poor COVID-19 Outcomes
Susanna Paavilainen, Executive Director at Wise Nose Association commands one of the ten sniffer dogs trained to detect COVID-19 infections at Helsinki airport on September 25, 2020, in Helsinki, Finland. A pilot study at Helsinki airport provides passengers with free coronavirus tests using dogs to detect infections by smell.
Same Results
Compared to the results which the dog sniffers found, Aronkyto said, "They are about the same." He added, he doesn't think "there is a statistical difference."
Scientists are now investigating how closely the two sets of test results match each other-whether the sniffer dogs detected COVID-19 in passengers whose infection was verified by a PCR test. More so, the researchers are hoping to publicize their findings by the end of this year.
Initial experiments during infections' the first significant wave earlier in the year proposed that the dogs could detect COVID-19 with almost 100-percent accuracy, up to five days earlier than the PCR test.
Soile Turunen, the project manager said, feedback from the passengers entering the airport and voluntarily taking the free-of-charge test "has been exceptionally positive."
DON'T MISS THIS: COVID-19 Update: Recent Developments Regarding the Infectious Disease
100 Travelers a Day Queue Up for the COVID-19 Test
Every day, about 100 travelers are queuing up for the COVID-19 test. According to reports, the test comprises wiping up "a swab onto the skin which is then placed in front of the dog," which will rapidly "pass over a negative sample but will get attracted to a positive one."
Commenting on this latest initiative, Turunen said people are not complaining about the queues. In fact, she added, it is the opposite. The project manager added, travelers are coming to them to say "Hi," from morning to evening.
Meanwhile, Valo, a fourth German shepherd dog, is currently being trained to start work at the airport's testing booth.
Researchers at the Helsinki University who are behind this test and working with sniffer-dog specialists from the Wise Nose organization are hoping that their study will convince the government to financially back a rollout of the said dogs for other functions such as huge public gatherings and events and tourist hotspots.
Furthermore, as believed by some researchers, even though the trials on sniffer dogs have been undertaken in other places like France, Russia, UAE, and Chile, using canine scent-detectors to strengthen COVID-19 testing has not yet been widely accepted by the regulators and authorities, partly due to a lack of peer-review literature.
Dog-handling charities have formerly worked with dogs to detect illnesses, including cancers, Parkinson's disease, and other bacterial infections through the use of samples taken from humans.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Case Report at Children's National Hospital Raises Concern for Resistance to Antibiotic
Check out more news and information on COVID-19 on MD News Daily.
Oct 29, 2020 07:00 AM EDT
