(Source : newatlas.com – by Nick Lavars) – UK researchers begin training dogs to detect the scent of COVID-19
There’s a long line of research projects aimed at leveraging the famous sensitivity of canine noses to detect risks to human health, including explosives, cancer and other diseases. But could they help us combat one of the gravest dangers we’ve faced in modern history? UK scientists are embarking on a new venture to train dogs to sniff out the scent of COVID-19, hopeful that they could come to offer a non-invasive way to detect the disease and help stop its spread.
The project is being carried out by researchers at Durham University, who are working with experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) along with the charity Medical Detection Dogs.
The same group published a study in 2018 detailing how springer spaniels could be trained to detect the scent of malaria in samples of socks worn by infected children, a skill they hope could one day be used at ports of entry to stop the spread of the disease. The researchers now harbor similar ambitions when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping the world. (…)
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