Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 infected patient samples by detection dogs: A proof of concept study

Essler, Jennifer L.; Kane, Sarah A.; Nolan, P. S.; Akaho, Elikplim; Berna, Amalia Z.; DeAngelo, Annemarie; Berk, Richard A.; Kaynaroglu, Patricia; Plymouth, Victoria L.; Frank, Ian D.; Weiss, Susan R.; John, Audrey Odom; Otto, Cynthia M.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250158

Cited by 51 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The animal therefore learns the discrimination without making incorrect responses and is "errorless." These procedures have demonstrated robust discrimination learning in pigeons (105-107); however, the scientific literature is largely lacking examples of applying this procedure for working dogs [note see one example (93)].…”

Section: Review Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animals are able to make very subtle and complex discriminations. Dogs have been trained on complex olfactory concepts such as discriminating odors from individuals with cancer from those without [( 91 ), e.g., ( 92 )] or from individuals with diseases such as COVID-19 from those without ( 93 , 94 ). This ability is not very surprising given the complex visual discriminations that other species have been trained on, such as natural concepts of trees vs. no trees ( 32 ), man-made vs. non man-made ( 95 ), pathology images of cancer ( 96 ), and artistic painting styles ( 97 ).…”

Section: Working Dog Training: Combining Research and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The “incorrect” stimuli are then slowly faded in to reach a similar intensity/salience as the correct stimulus but done so at a rate that ensures the animal makes very few, if any, incorrect responses. The animal therefore learns the discrimination without making incorrect responses and is “errorless.” These procedures have demonstrated robust discrimination learning in pigeons ( 105 – 107 ); however, the scientific literature is largely lacking examples of applying this procedure for working dogs [note see one example ( 93 )].…”

Section: Working Dog Training: Combining Research and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Working Dog Training for the Twenty-First Century

et al. 2021

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Dogs are trained for a variety of working roles including assistance, protection, and detection work. Many canine working roles, in their modern iterations, were developed at the turn of the 20th century and training practices have since largely been passed down from trainer to trainer. In parallel, research in psychology has advanced our understanding of animal behavior, and specifically canine learning and cognition, over the last 20 years; however, this field has had little focus or practical impact on working dog training. The aims of this narrative review are to (1) orient the reader to key advances in animal behavior that we view as having important implications for working dog training, (2) highlight where such information is already implemented, and (3) indicate areas for future collaborative research bridging the gap between research and practice. Through a selective review of research on canine learning and behavior and training of working dogs, we hope to combine advances from scientists and practitioners to lead to better, more targeted, and functional research for working dogs.

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Section: Review Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Working Dog Training: Combining Research and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Working Dog Training: Combining Research and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Working Dog Training for the Twenty-First Century

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“…Such differences can be explained by the type of disease to detect, the difference between patients and controls, the choice of body uids, the quality of samples, training differences, animal abilities. The number of samples presented to animals ranges from 2 (Bomer et al 2012) to 12 (Essler et al 2021). No justi cation was provided considering these numbers.…”

Section: Training Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Medical Scent Detection of Cancer and Infectious Diseases With Dogs and Rats: a Systematic Review

Bauër

Leemans

Audureau

et al. 2021

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Background: Remote medical scent detection of cancer and infectious diseases with dogs and rats has been an increasing field of research these last 20 years. If validated, the possibility of implementing such a technique in the clinic raises many hopes. This systematic review was performed to determine the evidence and performance of such methods and assess their potential relevance in the clinic.Methods: Pubmed and Web of Science databases were independently searched based on PRISMA standards. We included studies aiming at detecting cancers and infectious diseases affecting humans with dogs or rats. We excluded studies using other animals, studies aiming to detect agricultural diseases, diseases affecting animals, and others such as diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. Only original articles were included. Data about patients’ selection, samples, animal characteristics, animal training and testing configurations, and performances were recorded.Results: A total of 62 studies were included. Sensitivity and specificity varied a lot among studies: While some publications report low sensitivities of 17% and specificities around 29%, others achieve rates of 100% sensitivity and specificity. Only 6 studies were evaluated in a double-blind screening like situation. In general, the risk of performance bias was high in most evaluated studies, and the quality of the evidence found was low.Conclusions: Medical detection using animals’ sense of smell lacks evidence and performances so far to be applied in the clinic. What odours the animals detect is not well understood. Further research should be conducted, focusing on patient selection, samples (choice of materials, standardization), and testing conditions. Interpolations of such results to free running detection (direct contact with humans) should be taken with extreme caution.

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“… 11 More recently, compelling evidence from canine biosensors suggests that volatile detection may be a promising approach for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. Trained dogs reproducibly recognize SARS-CoV-2 infection in saliva/tracheal samples, 12 urine, 13 and sweat samples. 14 In addition, distinct breath signatures were found in adult patients with COVID-19, compared to those with unrelated respiratory and cardiac conditions.…”

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confidence: 98%

Reproducible Breath Metabolite Changes in Children with SARS-CoV-2 Infection

et al. 2021

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SARS-CoV-2 infection is diagnosed through detection of specific viral nucleic acid or antigens from respiratory samples. These techniques are relatively expensive, slow, and susceptible to false-negative results. A rapid noninvasive method to detect infection would be highly advantageous. Compelling evidence from canine biosensors and studies of adults with COVID-19 suggests that infection reproducibly alters human volatile organic compound (VOC) profiles. To determine whether pediatric infection is associated with VOC changes, we enrolled SARS-CoV-2 infected and uninfected children admitted to a major pediatric academic medical center. Breath samples were collected from children and analyzed through state-of-the-art GCxGC-ToFMS. Isolated features included 84 targeted VOCs. Candidate biomarkers that were correlated with infection status were subsequently validated in a second, independent cohort of children. We thus find that six volatile organic compounds are significantly and reproducibly increased in the breath of SARS-CoV-2 infected children. Three aldehydes (octanal, nonanal, and heptanal) drew special attention, as aldehydes are also elevated in the breath of adults with COVID-19. Together, these biomarkers demonstrate high accuracy for distinguishing pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection and support the ongoing development of novel breath-based diagnostics.

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Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 infected patient samples by detection dogs: A proof of concept study

Cited by 51 publications

References 23 publications

Working Dog Training for the Twenty-First Century

Working Dog Training for the Twenty-First Century

Remote Medical Scent Detection of Cancer and Infectious Diseases With Dogs and Rats: a Systematic Review

Reproducible Breath Metabolite Changes in Children with SARS-CoV-2 Infection

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