Covid-19 Testing Going to the Dogs

At the University of Pennsylvania, eight Labrador retrievers are begining a program to determine if dogs can be trained to smell the Covid-19 virus in infected humans.   Dogs' sense of smell is orders of magnitude greater than humans -  10,000 to 100,000 times more sensitive based on current research.  

Humans have trained our canine friends' finely tuned noses to sniff out other deadly diseases, including malaria, diabetes, some cancers and Parkinson’s disease, reported Ian Tucker for the Guardian in 2018. Other research has shown that viruses give off a particular smell, Cynthia Otto, director of the Working Dog Center at UPenn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, tells the Post.

If the dogs’ 300 million scent receptors can be trained to smell the novel coronavirus they could eventually be used in public places such as airports, businesses or hospitals to quickly and easily screen large numbers of people. Because this diagnosis by dog would depend on the smell given off by people infected with COVID-19 it should have no problem picking out asymptomatic carriers.