The three Labradors, operating out of a university clinic in Bangkok, are part of a global corps of dogs being trained to sniff out COVID in people. Preliminary studies, conducted in multiple countries, suggest that their detection rate may surpass that of the rapid antigen testing often used in airports and other public places. Kaywalee Chatdarong, deputy dean of research and innovation for the faculty of veterinary science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
The hope is that dogs can be deployed in crowded public spaces, like stadiums or transportation hubs, to identify people carrying the virus. They have patrolled airports in Finland, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, and private companies have used them at American sporting events. Angel, a pale blonde with incipient jowls and a fondness for crunching plastic bottles, is the star of the pack at Chulalongkorn University. But as a group, the dogs being trained in Thailand — Angel, Bobby, Bravo and three others, Apollo, Tiger and Nasa — accurately detected the virus Studies in Germany and the United Arab Emirates had lower but still impressive results.
Sniffer dogs work faster and far more cheaply than polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, testing, their proponents say. An intake of air through their sensitive snouts is enough to identify within a second the volatile organic compound or mixture of compounds that are produced when a person with COVID sheds damaged cells, researchers say.
Some methods of detection, like temperature screening, cannot identify infected people who have no symptoms. But dogs can, because the infected lungs and trachea produce a trademark scent. The Thai Labradors are part of a research project run jointly by Chulalongkorn University and Chevron. The oil company had previously used dogs to test its offshore employees for illegal drug use, and a Thai manager wondered whether the animals could do the same with the coronavirus.
The six dogs were assigned six handlers, who exposed them to sweat-stained cotton balls from the socks and armpits of COVID-positive individuals. Researchers say the risks to the dogs are low: The coronavirus is not known to be easily transmissible through perspiration, a plentiful commodity in tropical Thailand. Instead, the main transmission route appears to be respiratory droplets.
