Finland Use Dogs to Screen Travellers for COVID-19

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A new trial using dogs to sniff out the presence of the coronavirus in people is scheduled to be undertaken at the Helsinki Airport.
• According to the Washington Post, results are delivered within 10 seconds after sweat samples from travelers are given to dogs to sniff.
• The program is part of a study by researchers at the University of Helsinki who also trained the dogs to make a particular sound once a positive sample is identified.

Four COVID-sniffing dogs will be stationed at the Helsinki Airport to help screen international travelers for COVID-19.

“If it works, it could prove a good screening method in other places,” University of Helsinki professor Anna Hielm-Björkman who is in charge of the trial, told The Guardian.

Passengers arriving at Helsinki Airport are invited to freely participate in the canine screening by collecting a sweat sample from their necks using a wipe. They are then requested to leave the wipe in a container that is placed in front of dogs to sniff. The Washington Post reports that a canine test delivers results within 10 seconds.

If canine results have indicated the presence of the virus, passengers are instructed to take a free polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test using a nasal swab to confirm the result.

Scientists at the University of Helsinki have been training dogs to sniff out coronavirus in humans, teaching them as well to make a specific sound when they smell a positive sample.

While the researchers have no idea what exactly the dogs smell when they detect the virus, Hielm-Björkman told The New York Times that once they find out, thousands of dogs worldwide can be trained.

According to a French study in June, there is sufficient evidence that the smell of the sweat of COVID 19 infected people is much different to that of people who did not have the virus, and dogs can smell the difference.

The promising research program comes months after Dubai launched its own canine detection program at airports which the Post reported showing a 90 percent accuracy rate. 

With Australia, Britain, France, Germany and the United States purportedly working on similar studies, it won’t be long that countries worldwide will follow suit. 

Source: PEOPLE