Dogs might be able to sniff out coronavirus cases before they're diagnosed
Dogs have sniffed out bombs, drugs, cancer, and now possibly coronavirus.
Countries around the world have been training dogs to see if they can associate COVID-19 with a certain smell and point out the disease even if someone hasn't tested positive for it. And in Germany, pups are showing promising results with minimal training, Bloomberg reports.
Eight dogs from Germany's armed forces spent just a week training to identify the smell of COVID-19 in a person's saliva in a study for the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover. They then were tasked with smelling the saliva of more than 1,000 sick and healthy people, and identified those with coronavirus infections 94 percent of the time. "We think that this works because the metabolic processes in the body of a diseased patient are completely changed," and dogs can smell the difference, professor Maren von Koeckritz-Blickwede explained.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Dogs in France similarly had a 95 percent success rate when smelling sweat samples for COVID-19. And in Chile, police dogs are being trained to potentially sniff out coronavirus on people. All these efforts are happening with the hopes that they can be deployed in large crowds and track down infected people before they spread the virus too far.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Baltimore bridge disaster: Who is going to pay and how?
Today's Big Question Politicians, legal experts, and the insurance industry are all grappling with the financial fallout of America's worst infrastructure tragedy in years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Stick guitar
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
US bans final type of asbestos
Speed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical records
Speed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problem
Speed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levels
Speed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Vallance diaries: Boris Johnson 'bamboozled' by Covid science
Speed Read Then PM struggled to get his head around key terms and stats, chief scientific advisor claims
By The Week UK Published
-
An increasing number of dog owners are 'vaccine hesitant' about rabies
Speed Read A new survey points to canine vaccine hesitancy
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Anger may be a powerful motivator for tough goals, new study suggests
Speed Read Keeping your cool might actually be less efficient than letting your anger drive you
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
A tropical skin disease is making the rounds in the US
Speed Read Leishmaniasis is endemic to the country and can cause ulcers and disfiguration
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published