As if dogs were not still good enough for humans — some experts believe that specially qualified canines will assist in battling the coronavirus pandemic. A Study Team in the UK. Hopes to teach dogs to sniff out the disease, literally.
Qualified dogs can diagnose certain medical problems such as arthritis, Parkinson's disease, tuberculosis, and even cancer.
Since there is a common need for further coronavirus training, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, non-profit Medical Detection Dogs, and Durham University claim they have "begun plans to train dogs intensively so that they will be prepared in six weeks."
"Our previous work demonstrated that dogs can detect odors from humans with a malaria infection with extremely high accuracy — above the World Health Organization standards for a diagnostic," Professor James Logan said in a press release.
Logan noted that the application of COVID-19 odor identification is still in the early days and scientists don't know whether the disease still has a particular odor yet, "but we know that many respiratory diseases alter our body odor and there's a possibility it will." If it succeeds, researchers assume that dogs will be used to supplement current study initiatives and will help "target" up to 250 people an hour.
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