Dogs Used In the Fight Against CV-19

[Bruce Wrenn]

Read an interesting article last night. We know dogs can sniff out drugs. That's why TSA uses them at airports. They can also sniff out explosives, and certain diseases. In England they are training dogs to sniff out CV-19. They can actually smell when someone is infected. This could be a great boon to getting the country back to work. At the entrance to large employers, a dog could tell who can and can't enter the building. Anyone rejected by the dog could then have a quick test to verify the results. Same goes for transportation facilities. This could be the solution for mass testing, as the dog's nose is reusable. I'm not a dog, but I can smell when wife is getting a sinus infection, long before she has any symptoms.

[Jim Koepke]

Anyone rejected by the dog could then have a quick test to verify the results.

Testing seems to be one of the bottlenecks in this approach. To the best of my knowledge, there aren't enough test now and they are not quick.

jtk

[Lisa Starr]

Yes, dogs have a fantastic sense of smell. I recently read an article about a woman in England that can smell Parkinson's Disease prior to any symptoms. The reusable dog approach makes tons of sense to me.

[Roger Feeley]

We met a woman in an airport once whose dog could alert her to a stroke. She was under 40 at the time and had already had 4 major strokes. The dog + training came to about $10,000 and her insurance company paid for it. She said she got no argument as it would save them a bundle even if the dog prevents one stroke. She said the dog had alerted her twice. Once, in a store, the dog alerted. She asked for the manager, told him she was about to have a stroke, that she had 911 on the line, that she needed a convenient place to lie down and someone from the store to direct the paramedics. Everything went great. She got to the er in plenty of time to get the TPA, and had a full recovery.

She told us that the dog also got some cancer training (audited the class?). Once he alerted to a friend over for dinner. The friend went to the dr and they found some nasty cancer much earlier than usual. Full recovery there too.

after I got home, I did a bit of research. At the time, you could visit a cancer sniffing dog for about $100. You pet the dog, they sniff you and tell you if they sense any cancer. Kind of cool and not a bad business. If a $10K dog sees 15 patients a day at $100 a pop. Let’s see, 250 days a year times $1500 a day = $375K. There must be some fly in that ointment or ever doctor would have a dog.

[Roger Feeley]

I think I heard that story on NPR. they tested her with a known group of sick and well patients. The only mistake she made was a false positive and that person was diagnosed with PD not long after. So.. a perfect record.

[John Ziebron]

Lisa, that woman in England must have a fantastic nose.:D

[Wade Lippman]

Perhaps they can smell if someone has a respiratory virus, but detecting Covid 19 specifically? Seems unlikely.

[Bill Dufour]

Teacher at high school has a dog trained to warn her if her blood sugar goes bad. For some reason the administration fought it tooth and nail.
Bil lD

[Bill Dufour]

The royal navy retired the last of it's cats decades ago. Maybe they need them back. I can't imagine how long it would take to test all 5000 guys heading onto a aircraft carrier in port.
Bil lD

[Bohdan Drozdowskyj]

What stops the dog from getting infected?

[Curt Harms]

What stops the dog from getting infected?

Maybe the fact that they're dogs and don't don't get CV19? My question would be how long does it take to train a dog to alert to CV19? Once a vaccine becomes available - and it will - that job will become obsolete. A second question would be the rate of false positives. A couple % would be tolerable, 20% may not be.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Maybe the fact that they're dogs and don't don't get CV19? My question would be how long does it take to train a dog to alert to CV19? Once a vaccine becomes available - and it will - that job will become obsolete. A second question would be the rate of false positives. A couple % would be tolerable, 20% may not be.That's the reason for secondary tests.