Dogs can better detect Covid in humans than lateral flow tests, finds study

Canines able to detect presence of virus with 97 per cent accuracy

The study took place in Paris (AFP via Getty Images)

Dogs are able to detect Covid-19 in humans better than many lateral flow tests, according to a study.

The trial indicated that dogs are able to detect the presence of coronavirus in a human with 97 per cent accuracy, prompting suggestions that dogs could be used for mass virus screening in crowded locations such as airports, train stations and concert venues.

The dogs were also 91 per cent accurate in identifying negative samples, results showed.

Lateral flow tests on the other hand, correctly identify on average 72 per cent of people infected with Covid who are showing symptoms. For those who are symptomless, this drops to 58 per cent, a Cochrane review of 64 studies found.

The French trial took place between March and April and was run by France’s national veterinary school, as well as the clinical research unit of Paris’s Necker-Cochin hospital.

Paris’ hospital board explained that the study is the first of its kind and is due to be published in a scientific review. “These results are scientific confirmation of dogs’ capacity to detect the olfactory signature of Covid-19,” they said.

Meanwhile Prof Jean-Marc Tréluyer called the results “excellent” and “comparable with those of a PCR test,” reported AFP. It was not suggested that dogs replace PCR tests, but they could act as an indicator to see who might need to be tested.

The study involved more than 300 volunteers between six and 76 years old, as well as nine dogs who came from the United Arab Emirates and were trained by the French fire service.

Each participant was someone who had presented themselves for a PCR test at a testing centre in Paris. Each person had a cotton pad pressed for two minutes under their armpit, these were then sealed in jars and given to at least two of the dogs to be sniffed.

The dogs were kept away from volunteers, and the dogs’ handlers did not know which samples were positive in advance.

Of the 335 people who were swabbed for Covid-19, 109 tested positive, of which the dogs were able to detect 97 per cent. They were also able to identify 91 per cent of those with a negative test.

Researchers in countries which include the UK, Australia and Germany have all experimented with dogs to detect Covid.

In Finland and the United Arab Emirates, trials were launched last year with sniffer dogs present and detecting Covid cases, at both Helsinki and Dubai international airports.