Expert considerations and consensus for using dogs to detect human SARS-CoV-2-infections

Abstract

Veselkoff N and Volk HA (2022) Expert considerations and consensus for using dogs to detect human SARS-CoV-2-infections.

Potential for Early Noninvasive COVID-19 Detection Using Electronic-Nose Technologies and Disease-Specific VOC Metabolic Biomarkers

“…Recent testing of artificial e-nose and animal-based olfactory methods for early detection of COVID-19 infections in humans have been investigated as possible alternatives to fill part of this technological need. Studies [ 196 , 197 , 198 , 199 ] evaluating applications of trained dogs have been initiated to examine canine prescreening surveillance and monitoring of COVID-19 infections of humans in public places such as in airport terminals, shopping malls, people waiting in lines assembled to receive services (including COVID-19 testing stations), at sporting events, and other outdoor situations where individuals may be approached and quickly sniffed by trained canines (similar to drug surveillance) as a prescreening first line of defense. In these cases, dogs may be trained to detect differences in the smells of healthy vs. virus-infected individuals.…”

Sniffer dogs performance is stable over time in detecting COVID-19 positive samples and agrees with the rapid antigen test in the field

“…In our study, training with diverse positive and negative volunteers, we aimed to improve the correct rates in COVID-19 detection by the sniffer dogs. Nevertheless, further research should include more high quality exploration of the influence on the odour signature (or the perception of it) by variables such as training sample number and type, sampling method, dogs’ personalities 48 , as well as of dogs’ performance in in field scenarios.…”

β-Propiolactone (BPL)-inactivation of SARS-Co-V-2: In vitro validation with focus on saliva from COVID-19 patients for scent dog training

“…Concentrations 0.2 to 0.4% lead to loss of protein content, antigenic integrity and cause aggregation of the virions and therefore, a maximum concentration of 0.05% was recommended ( Gupta et al, 2021 , Sasaki et al, 2016 ). However, for scent dog training VOCs ( Meller et al, 2022 ), but not the antigenic integrity of the sample play a major role ( Jendrny et al, 2021a ).…”

“…( Mendel et al, 2021 ). However, adaptability of this inactivation method on liquid samples including the preservation of VOCs required for scent dog training is unknown ( Meller et al 2022 ). In fact, the effectivity of UV inactivation in fluid samples decreases with the required depth of penetration, as shown for Escherichia coli ( Ngadi et al, 2003 ).…”

“…Scent dogs trained with (inactivated) COVID-19 patient samples are able to distinguish between SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative individuals when they are exposed to different body fluids including saliva, bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALFs) ( Jendrny et al, 2020 ), urine ( Essler et al, 2021 , Jendrny et al, 2021b ) and sweat ( Grandjean et al, 2022 , Hag-Ali et al, 2021 , ten Hagen et al, 2021 ). Besides the need for the elimination of infectivity ( Meller et al, 2022 ), the key feature for an adequate inactivation procedure of SARS-CoV-2 samples prepared for scent dog training is the maintenance of integrity in order to ensure that the dogs still recognize the original volatile organic compound (VOC) pattern characteristic for SARS-CoV-2-infected or diseased individuals ( Jendrny et al, 2021a ). VOCs are chemical compounds including gases, acids and alcohols released in body fluids for instance as a result of an infection in humans ( Sethi et al, 2013 ).…”