At the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) they work in the training of dogs to detect coronavirus through smell. This method would allow for low-cost and efficient testing. Dogs’ smell is trained to detect substances such as narcotics, explosives, food and more. Regarding training to detect coronavirus, experts noted that “changes in the volatile organic compounds emitted by the human body when contracting a disease are isolated from blood, skin, sweat and urine samples to be used in the training of detector dogs”.
Currently, dogs manage to detect lung, breast, prostate and colon cancer, melanoma, tuberculosis or episodes of hypoglycemia. Will they be able to detect the coronavirus? Paula Carancci, Secretary of Extension of the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of the UBA, explained that the School of Veterinary Medicine in Alfort, France, began research that is having encouraging results: “The objective is to incorporate ourselves into the project, adapt it to local needs and add scientific evidence on the ability of dogs to detect people affected by Covid-19”. In our country, the program is in the design and planning stage, close to starting practices with dogs. “They will use already trained animals, preferably in the detection of explosives as these dogs were trained to indicate an odor compatible with this task,” Carancci explained.” The tests carried out in France yielded a highly effective result: between 86 and 100% according to the canine specimen,” Carancci warned of the results that could be given in our country.
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