German Veterinary University Trains Dogs to Sniff Out COVID-19 A pilot study by the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in Germany has found success in the use of dogs to sniff out COVID-19.
The study, published in ‘BMC Infectious Diseases’ involved eight dogs from Germany’s armed forced and 1,012 samples of saliva.
After just five days of training, the dogs were able to detect COVID-19 in the saliva samples with a 94 percent success rate.
Dr. Maren Von Köckritz-Blickwede, a professor at the University, believes dogs can smell the difference in “metabolic processes” between healthy and diseased patients.
Dr. Maren Von Köckritz- Blickwede, via YouTube The study’s researchers believe coronavirus-sniffing dogs could be utilized in public settings to prevent further outbreaks.
They also hope to further develop the ability of dogs to detect pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.