SUPER SNIFFERS
THESE are the six dogs being trained to detect people with Covid-19 at airports, stadiums and train stations... and they need your help.
The Medical Detection Dogs charity believes each canine will be able to screen up to 250 people an hour in public spaces.
Humans who are suspected of having the coronavirus will then be given a medical test to confirm the diagnosis, meaning NHS resources will be better targeted.
But the charity needs 3,000 unused, short-sleeved shirts andt-shirts to help them teach the dogs to distinguish between clothing that has been impregnated with Covid-19 and clothes which have not.
The pooches so far earmarked for training are Labrador cross Storm, cocker spaniels Asher, Jasper and Norman, Labrador Star and Labradoodle Digby.
Clare Guest, co-founder of the charity, said: “Using their incredible sense of smell, these ready and willing dogs will make a huge difference and, we believe, give us a noninvasive, rapid and reliable test for Covid-19.
“We hope to have the dogs working in airports by the end of the year, and we are raising an appeal to get enough shirts and T-shirts to help with the training.”
The samples the dogs will be trained on will be “deactivated” – or dead – and therefore of no risk to the dogs or handlers.
The dogs will sniff the air around people, so they will not be in direct contact with them, to prevent the risk of spreading the virus.
The charity has previously trained dogs to detect cancer, Parkinson’s disease and malaria.
It was contacted by Prof James Logan, head of the department of disease control at
London School of Hygiene andtropical Medicine, to see if the same training techniques could be used for Covid-19.
He said: “They told me, ‘Absolutely’. We know from other diseases the body odour changes when there is an infection.there is no reason to believe this is any different.”
He now has government funding for the scheme and said: “I am confident this could change the way we tackle this pandemic.”
●If you can donate unused shirts, please email Covidk9@lshtm.ac.uk