scholarly journals Can the detection dog alert on COVID-19 positive persons by sniffing axillary sweat samples? A proof-of-concept study

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243122
Author(s):  
Dominique Grandjean ◽  
Riad Sarkis ◽  
Clothilde Lecoq-Julien ◽  
Aymeric Benard ◽  
Vinciane Roger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Success Rate ◽  
Cancer Detection ◽  
Positive Sample ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Concept Study ◽  
Dog Training ◽  
Axillary Sweat ◽  
Sweat Sample ◽  
Detection Dog ◽  
Testing Protocols

The aim of this proof-of-concept study was to evaluate if trained dogs could discriminate between sweat samples from symptomatic COVID-19 positive individuals (SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive) and those from asymptomatic COVID-19 negative individuals. The study was conducted at 2 sites (Paris, France, and Beirut, Lebanon), followed the same training and testing protocols, and involved six detection dogs (three explosive detection dogs, one search and rescue dog, and two colon cancer detection dogs). A total of 177 individuals were recruited for the study (95 symptomatic COVID-19 positive and 82 asymptomatic COVID-19 negative individuals) from five hospitals, and one underarm sweat sample per individual was collected. The dog training sessions lasted between one and three weeks. Once trained, the dog had to mark the COVID-19 positive sample randomly placed behind one of three or four olfactory cones (the other cones contained at least one COVID-19 negative sample and between zero and two mocks). During the testing session, a COVID-19 positive sample could be used up to a maximum of three times for one dog. The dog and its handler were both blinded to the COVID-positive sample location. The success rate per dog (i.e., the number of correct indications divided by the number of trials) ranged from 76% to 100%. The lower bound of the 95% confidence interval of the estimated success rate was most of the time higher than the success rate obtained by chance after removing the number of mocks from calculations. These results provide some evidence that detection dogs may be able to discriminate between sweat samples from symptomatic COVID-19 individuals and those from asymptomatic COVID-19 negative individuals. However, due to the limitations of this proof-of-concept study (including using some COVID-19 samples more than once and potential confounding biases), these results must be confirmed in validation studies.

scholarly journals Detection dogs as a help in the detection of COVID-19 Can the dog alert on COVID-19 positive persons by sniffing axillary sweat samples ? Proof-of-concept study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Grandjean ◽  
Riad Sarkis ◽  
Jean-Pierre Tourtier ◽  
Clothilde Julien-Lecocq ◽  
Aymeric Benard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colon Cancer ◽  
Cancer Detection ◽  
Positive Sample ◽  
The Other ◽  
Explosive Detection ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Concept Study ◽  
Axillary Sweat ◽  
Very High

AbstractThe aim of this study is to evaluate if the sweat produced by COVID-19 persons (SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive) has a different odour for trained detection dogs than the sweat produced by non COVID-19 persons. The study was conducted on 3 sites, following the same protocol procedures, and involved a total of 18 dogs. A total of 198 armpits sweat samples were obtained from different hospitals. For each involved dog, the acquisition of the specific odour of COVID-19 sweat samples required from one to four hours, with an amount of positive samples sniffing ranging from four to ten. For this proof of concept, we kept 8 dogs of the initial group (explosive detection dogs and colon cancer detection dogs), who performed a total of 368 trials, and will include the other dogs in our future studies as their adaptation to samples scenting takes more time.The percentages of success of the dogs to find the positive sample in a line containing several other negative samples or mocks (2 to 6) were 100p100 for 4 dogs, and respectively 83p100, 84p100, 90p100 and 94p100 for the others, all significantly different from the percentage of success that would be obtained by chance alone.We conclude that there is a very high evidence that the armpits sweat odour of COVID-19+ persons is different, and that dogs can detect a person infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

scholarly journals Use Of Canine Olfactory Detection For COVID-19 Testing Study On U.A.E. Trained Detection Dog Sensitivity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Grandjean ◽  
Dana Humaid Al Marzooqi ◽  
Clothilde Lecoq-Julien ◽  
Quentin Muzzin ◽  
Hamad Katir Al Hammadi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Positive Sample ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Axillary Sweat ◽  
Olfactory Detection ◽  
Tract Infections ◽  
Detection Dog ◽  
Sampling Duration ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sweat Collection

ABSTRACTThis study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity of 21 dogs belonging to different United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Interior (MOI), trained for COVID-19 olfactory detection.The study involved 17 explosives detection dogs, two cadaver detection dogs and two dogs with no previous detection training. Training lasted two weeks before starting the validation protocol. Sequential five and seven-cone line-ups were used with axillary sweat samples from symptomatic COVID-19 individuals (SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive) and from asymptomatic COVID-19 negative individuals (SARS-CoV-2 PCR negative). A total of 1368 trials were performed during validation, including 151 positive and 110 negative samples. Each line-up had one positive sample and at least one negative sample. The dog had to mark the positive sample, randomly positioned behind one of the cones. The dog, handler and data recorder were blinded to the positive sample location.The calculated overall sensitivities were between 71% and 79% for three dogs, between83% and 87% for three other dogs, and equal to or higher than 90% for the remaining 15 dogs (more than two thirds of the 21 dogs).After calculating the overall sensitivity for each dog using all line-ups, “matched” sensitivities were calculated only including line-ups containing COVID-19 positive and negative samples strictly comparable on confounding factors such as diabetes, anosmia, asthma, fever, body pain, diarrhoea, sex, hospital, method of sweat collection and sampling duration. Most of the time, the sensitivities increased after matching.Pandemic conditions in the U.A.E., associated with the desire to use dogs as an efficient mass-pretesting tool has already led to the operational deployment of the study dogs.Future studies will focus on comparatives fields-test results including the impact of the main COVID-19 comorbidities and other respiratory tract infections.

scholarly journals Use of Canine Olfactory Detection for Covid-19 Testing Study on U.A.E. Trained Detection Dog Sensitivity

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Dominique Grandjean
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Tract Infections ◽  
Positive Sample ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Axillary Sweat ◽  
Olfactory Detection ◽  
Tract Infections ◽  
Detection Dog ◽  
Sampling Duration ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sweat Collection

This study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity of 21 dogs belonging to different united arab emirate administrations, trained for covid-19 olfactory detection. The study involved 17 explosives detection dogs, two cadaver detection dogs and two dogs with no previous detection training. Training lasted two weeks before starting the validation protocol. Sequential five and seven- cone line-ups were used with axillary sweat samples from 151 symptomatic covid-19 individuals (sars-cov-2 pcr positive) and from 110 asymptomatic covid-19 negative individuals (sars-cov-2 pcr negative). Each line-up had one positive sample and at least one negative sample. The dog had to mark the positive sample, randomly positioned behind one of the cones. The dog, handler and data recorder were blinded to the positive sample location. The calculated overall sensitivities were between 71% and 79% for three dogs, between 83% and 87% for three other dogs and equal to or higher than 90% for the remaining 15 dogs (more than two thirds of the 21 dogs). After calculating the overall sensitivity for each dog using all line- ups, “matched” sensitivities were calculated only including line-ups containing covid-19 positive and negative samples strictly comparable on confounding factors such as diabetes, anosmia, asthma, fever, body pain, diarrhoea, sex, hospital, method of sweat collection and sampling duration. Most of the time, the sensitivities increased after matching. Pandemic conditions in the U.A.E.., associated with the desire to use dogs as an efficient mass-pretesting tool has already led to the operational deployment of the study dogs. Future studies will focus on comparatives fields-test results including the impact of the main covid-19 comorbidities and other respiratory tract infections.

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