Sniffing out COVID: Could dogs be our next hope?
We are used to getting our temperature checked at the door when we hit the gym, arrive at work or visit the doctor and other places that are screening for symptoms of COVID-19.
It’s possible that we eventually could also have to pass a sniff test from man’s best friend, too.
Dogs are being trained to detect the scent of the coronavirus so they can identify infected people. The research is showing promise, and if more dogs can be trained worldwide, maybe we can get back to doing the things we’re yearning for again, like going to ballgames and concerts.
Some of the research is being done in Pennsylvania, at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia. Studies began there in April.
A big real-world trial occurred Thursday in Florida, where the roughly 2,000 fans who attended the Miami Heat basketball game walked past screening dogs.
Dogs are being used at airports in Dubai and Helsinki, but the Heat game was the first major public rollout in the United States.
The event received a lot of publicity, including on “Good Morning America.” That’s good because this research needs funding, and that’s been lacking so far. If public support for the idea grows, perhaps funding will come, including through the next stimulus package proposed by President Joe Biden’s administration.
We shouldn’t bank on COVID-sniffing dogs to end the problem of asymptomatic people unknowingly spreading the disease. But dogs can be part of the plan, especially considering the lack of widespread quick tests and limited availability of vaccines.
Last week, about 14,000 people were tested daily for the coronavirus statewide in Pennsylvania, not even enough to fill the combined capacities of Allentown’s PPL Center and Coca-Cola
Park. Nearly a year into the pandemic, testing still is woefully inadequate.
If a pack of dogs can screen thousands of people entering a sports arena or passing through an airport with high confidence, why not use them?
Penn Vet is is training eight dogs through “odor imprinting,” where they are exposed to COVID-19 positive saliva and urine samples in a laboratory setting. After they learn the odor, researchers document the dogs’ ability to differentiate between COVID positive and negative samples in the lab. The hope was for testing on people to begin last summer, the university said in a news release in April.
Penn Vet declined to provide an update last week, saying it would be premature to discuss the study until it is complete and findings are published. Lead researcher Dr. Cynthia Otto has submitted her manuscript for peer review, according to spokesman Martin Hackett.
Dogs previously have been trained to detect cancer and other illnesses, so there is a body of science to build on.
Dogs have as many as 300 million smell receptors, about 50 times more than people. They can detect low concentrations of volatile organic compounds associated with ovarian cancer, bacterial infections and nasal tumors, Otto said in Penn’s news release last spring. The compounds are found in blood, saliva, urine or breath.
“The potential impact of these dogs and their capacity to detect COVID-19 could be substantial,” Otto said.
Dogs trained in a study similar to Penn’s in Paris and Beirut had a success rate of between 76% and 100%, according to a study recently published in Plos One, a science journal. Two dogs previously trained to detect colon cancer achieved perfect scores.
Last summer, dogs trained at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in Germany had a cumulative 94% success rate.
While the results are promising, more research is needed, especially real-world trials such as the one Thursday in Miami. And other factors involving the use of dogs to detect the virus must be addressed, including the safety of their handlers. They must be adequately protected.
Accommodations must be made for people who are afraid of dogs or allergic to them. The Heat offered the alternative of a rapid antigen test, which takes about 45 minutes.
Funding is a big hurdle, too.
Penn’s research has been paid for in part by a recently started fundraising effort, the Penn Vet COVID19 Research Innovation Fund. The Department of Defense also provided funding.
Otto told Baltimore Sun in September that a lot of organizations want a COVID-detecting dog.
“Everybody wants a dog, and nobody wants to pay for the science that go into it,” she said. “The dogs have some hope ... but that hope is empty if we do not have the data behind it.”
Dogs should not be a substitute for a diagnostic coronavirus test. People who the dogs indicate are infected should follow up with a lab test. But if further research shows they can be trusted to be accurate, they would be another line of defense to stop the spread of the virus. Even if vaccines are widely administered later this year, that doesn’t mean the disease will disappear.
The coronavirus stinks in so many ways. Using dogs, we can harness that odor and use it to our advantage.
Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com.