Prognosis
Dogs Sniffing Covid From Sweat Fare Almost as Well as PCR Tests
- Outcome could pave way for easier coronavirus mass screening
- Another study showed dogs could identify virus from saliva
A dog sniffs out Covid-19 during a training at the national veterinary school of Alfort in Paris.
Photographer: Siegfried Modola/Getty Images
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Dogs are able to detect Covid-19 in humans, a new study showed, paving the way for the broader use of sniffing canines in a global effort to contain the pandemic.
The dogs’ detection reached 97% sensitivity in the French study, 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.