Scent dog identification of SARS-CoV-2 infections in different body fluids.
BMC Infect Dis
; 21(1): 707, 2021 Jul 27.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2310667
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The main strategy to contain the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic remains to implement a comprehensive testing, tracing and quarantining strategy until vaccination of the population is adequate. Scent dogs could support current testing strategies.METHODS:
Ten dogs were trained for 8 days to detect SARS-CoV-2 infections in beta-propiolactone inactivated saliva samples. The subsequent cognitive transfer performance for the recognition of non-inactivated samples were tested on three different body fluids (saliva, urine, and sweat) in a randomised, double-blind controlled study.RESULTS:
Dogs were tested on a total of 5242 randomised sample presentations. Dogs detected non-inactivated saliva samples with a diagnostic sensitivity of 84% (95% CI 62.5-94.44%) and specificity of 95% (95% CI 93.4-96%). In a subsequent experiment to compare the scent recognition between the three non-inactivated body fluids, diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 95% (95% CI 66.67-100%) and 98% (95% CI 94.87-100%) for urine, 91% (95% CI 71.43-100%) and 94% (95% CI 90.91-97.78%) for sweat, 82% (95% CI 64.29-95.24%), and 96% (95% CI 94.95-98.9%) for saliva respectively.CONCLUSIONS:
The scent cognitive transfer performance between inactivated and non-inactivated samples as well as between different sample materials indicates that global, specific SARS-CoV-2-associated volatile compounds are released across different body secretions, independently from the patient's symptoms. All tested body fluids appear to be similarly suited for reliable detection of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Body Fluids
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12879-021-06411-1
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