{"id":216127,"date":"2021-03-31T22:21:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T19:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/italian-dogs-sniff-through-covid-19-bootcamp\/"},"modified":"2021-03-31T22:21:30","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T19:21:30","slug":"italian-dogs-sniff-through-covid-19-bootcamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/italian-dogs-sniff-through-covid-19-bootcamp\/","title":{"rendered":"#Italian dogs sniff through COVID-19 bootcamp"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Italian dogs sniff through COVID-19 bootcamp<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Researchers
\n Researchers say the Italian dog scheme is the first to combine canine field work with lab testing
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It was Harlock’s first day at coronavirus training school and she already showed promise.<\/p>\n


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The one-year-old German Shepherd’s task on Wednesday morning was simply to place her slightly wet nose on a black tube. <\/p>\n

“Sniff,” encouraged her trainer, Massimiliano Macera, who was quick to reward his furry student with treats whenever nose met tube. <\/p>\n

“She’s already got it!” he added, smiling at his prot\u00e9g\u00e9, part of a team of dogs learning how to sniff out COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The project, which began 10 days ago at Rome’s Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital, involves training dogs to detect the presence of coronavirus in human sweat.<\/p>\n

If found to be reliable, it could prove a faster and cheaper method of detection in crowd situations, whether a football match or rock concert, say those working on the project. <\/p>\n

“If we have 1,000 people we have to screen with an antigen swab, it would take us about 20 minutes for each person,” said Massimo Ciccozzi, a professor of epidemiology at the university. <\/p>\n

“A dog, using their olfactory senses, would take 30 seconds maximum.”<\/p>\n

Dogs, with their sensitive noses packed with receptors, are increasingly being used to detect human diseases, including cancer, diabetes or Parkinson’s.<\/p>\n

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\"Researchers
\n Researchers plan to ask visitors to a drive-through coronavirus test centre for sweat samples to train the dogs
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Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, researchers in countries around the world including Finland, Germany, France and the United Arab Emirates have launched sniffer dog trials.<\/p>\n

But some scientists believe such testing has not yet been widely adopted by authorities in part because of a lack of peer-reviewed literature. <\/p>\n

Work is play<\/b><\/p>\n

Macera’s company SecurityDogs has six pups in the programme, among them Roma. The four-year-old Dutch Shepherd was outfitted in her uniform, a turquoise and black harness proclaiming the dog’s COVID-fighting role.<\/p>\n

“The first part of the dog training is getting them to recognise the volatile organic compounds that characterise the COVID disease,” said Silvia Angeletti, the hospital’s lab director.<\/p>\n

She called the study the first based on collaboration between laboratory research and field experimentation.<\/p>\n

For now during the training phase, biological samples come from patients with coronavirus inside the hospital.<\/p>\n

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\"Coronavirus
\n Coronavirus sniffer dogs sport a special patch on their harness
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After the dogs can reliably recognise the disease, the project will focus on patients at a drive-through testing centre on the campus.<\/p>\n

Those willing to participate will turn over a gauze sample of their sweat, which will be placed inside a metal receptacle inside the testing room to be sniffed by the dogs.<\/p>\n

The results will be compared with those of a molecular nasal swab performed on each patient.<\/p>\n

For now, Harlock the German Shepherd is just having fun inside the small makeshift testing room, blissfully unaware of the potential importance of her work and that of her four-legged colleagues.<\/p>\n

“They can’t wait to come in in the morning,” Macera said of his dogs. <\/p>\n

“Their work is play. These guys are already experts, they do it with a certain naturalness and the youngest ones are starting.”<\/p>\n\n

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These dogs are trained to sniff out the coronavirus. Most have a 100% success rate<\/a>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Italian dogs sniff through COVID-19 bootcamp (2021, March 31)
\n retrieved 31 March 2021
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2021-03-italian-dogs-covid-bootcamp.html<\/p>\n

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\n part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n