| For anyone dreading being stuck in long waiting lines or having to endure uncomfortable nasal swabs to get tested for Covid-19, super-sniffing dogs may offer a glimmer of hope. There's mounting evidence that canines could be used to detect the coronavirus at ports of entry, much like they sniff out bombs, drugs or other diseases—potentially reducing long waits at testing lines and strengthening efforts to contain transmission in a fast, cheap and non-invasive manner. Two dogs could accurately scan 300 plane passengers in about half an hour as part of a rapid screening strategy, according to research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. That would mean only the people selected by the dogs would need to undergo a PCR test. "The current methods of testing for Covid are not suitable for rapid screening of large numbers of people, such as people found in airports or other public venues where you've got to screen a lot of people very quickly," James Logan, head of the department of disease control at the London School of Hygiene, said in a May briefing.  Covd-19 sniffer dogs perform in trials. The dogs were able to detect asymptomatic patients as well as people with two different strains, and some with low viral loads. The strategy of dog selection followed by a PCR test would detect 91% of cases, the scientists said.
A separate French study showed dogs' detection reached 97% sensitivity, meaning that's how well the canines could identify positive samples. The sniffing was also 91% specific, which rates the dogs' ability to identify negatives. The sensitivity rating beats that of many 15-minute antigen tests, which tend to be better at ruling out infection than at finding it. And last year, German researchers said trained canines were able to distinguish between saliva sampled from people infected with the virus and those who were not more than 90% of the time. While Finland, Dubai and Switzerland have started training dogs to sniff out infections, they're yet to be deployed more widely. Researchers in the U.K. study said they believe the results could be replicated in real-world settings, paving the way for smoother—and cuter—mass screening.—Corinne Gretler | 
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