Special “Covid dogs” are to begin trials in the UK to see if they are able to detect symptoms of coronavirus before they appear. The first phase of the trials will be conducted by researchers at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), in collaboration with the charity Medical Detection Dogs (MDD) and Durham University. It will determine whether the six dogs, a mixture of labradors and cocker spaniels, are able to detect coronavirus in humans from odour samples. “Our previous work has shown that malaria has a distinctive odour, and with Medical Detection Dogs, we successfully trained dogs to accurately detect malaria,” he said. “This, combined with the knowledge that respiratory disease can change body odour, makes us hopeful that the dogs can also detect Covid-19.

Source: The Irish Times May 16, 2020 17:26 UTC