Research says dogs capable of sniffing out coronavirus

PanARMENIAN.Net - Finnish researchers have discovered that dogs are capable of recognizing the distinctive odor of a coronavirus infection, The New York Daily News reports.

Soon, they hope the pooches will be able to detect the infection at airports, nursing homes and other high-risk areas, according to a study they published recently.

“We have solid experience in training disease-related scent-detection dogs,” explained DogRisk group leader Anna Hielm-Björkman. “It was fantastic to see how fast the dogs took to the new smell.”

Scientists were able to train the dogs to recognize the unique odor signature of the Covid-19 disease. Just a few weeks in, the initial dogs could accurately distinguish urine samples of coronavirus patients from those who had tested negative, reported Deutsche Welle.

Now, researchers are preparing a study in which the dogs will smell a greater quantity of urine samples.

Scientists remain stumped as to which urine substances tip off the dogs.

Globally, more than 352,000 people have died from COVID-19, while the number of confirmed cases has exceeded 5.6 million, as of Wednesday, according to health tracker Johns Hopkins University.