Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 Infections From Other Viral Respiratory Infections by Scent Detection Dogs

Frontiers in Medicine

Marylyn Martina Addo¹  Anahita Fathi¹  Eva Krause²  Andreas Nitsche²  Janine Michel²  Andreas Puyskens²  Katrin Zwirglmaier³  Roman Wölfel³  Rosina Ehmann³  Albrecht von Brunn⁵  Christiane Ernst⁶  Alexandra Nau⁶  Eva Philipp⁷  Michael Engels⁸  Esther Schalke⁸  Maren von Köckritz-Blickwede^1,10  Isabell Pink^1,12  Tobias Welte^1,12  Nele Alexandra ten Hagen^1,13  Holger Andreas Volk^1,13  Sebastian Meller^1,13  Paula Jendrny^1,13  Friederike Twele^1,13  Michael Peter Manns^1,14  Thomas Illig^1,15  Hans Ebbers^1,16  Claudia Schulz^1,17  Ab Osterhaus^1,17 

[1] 0German Center for Infection Research, Hamburg-Lübeck- Borstel-Riems, Hamburg, Germany;1Center for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens (ZBS) 1, Highly Pathogenic Viruses, World Health Organisation Reference Laboratory for SARS-CoV-2 and World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Emerging Infections and Biological Threats, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany;2Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany;3Max von Pettenkofer-Institute, Virology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany;4German Center for Infection Research, Munich, Germany;5Bundeswehr Medical Service Headquarters, Koblenz, Germany;6Military Medical Center, Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany;7Bundeswehr School of Dog Handling, Gräfin-Maltzan-Kaserne, Ulmen, Germany;Department for Clinical Immunology of Infectious Diseases, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany;Department of Biochemistry, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany;Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University Medical-Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany;Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany;Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany;Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany;Hannover Unified Biobank, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany;KynoScience Unternehmergesellschaft, Hörstel, Germany;Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany;

关键词: canine;    volatile organic compound (VOC);    COVID-19;    screening test;    coronavirus;    SARS-CoV-2;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2021.749588

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Background: Testing of possibly infected individuals remains cornerstone of containing the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Detection dogs could contribute to mass screening. Previous research demonstrated canines' ability to detect SARS-CoV-2-infections but has not investigated if dogs can differentiate between COVID-19 and other virus infections.Methods: Twelve dogs were trained to detect SARS-CoV-2 positive samples. Three test scenarios were performed to evaluate their ability to discriminate SARS-CoV-2-infections from viral infections of a different aetiology. Naso- and oropharyngeal swab samples from individuals and samples from cell culture both infected with one of 15 viruses that may cause COVID-19-like symptoms were presented as distractors in a randomised, double-blind study. Dogs were either trained with SARS-CoV-2 positive saliva samples (test scenario I and II) or with supernatant from cell cultures (test scenario III).Results: When using swab samples from individuals infected with viruses other than SARS-CoV-2 as distractors (test scenario I), dogs detected swab samples from SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals with a mean diagnostic sensitivity of 73.8% (95% CI: 66.0–81.7%) and a specificity of 95.1% (95% CI: 92.6–97.7%). In test scenario II and III cell culture supernatant from cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, cells infected with other coronaviruses and non-infected cells were presented. Dogs achieved mean diagnostic sensitivities of 61.2% (95% CI: 50.7–71.6%, test scenario II) and 75.8% (95% CI: 53.0–98.5%, test scenario III), respectively. The diagnostic specificities were 90.9% (95% CI: 87.3–94.6%, test scenario II) and 90.2% (95% CI: 81.1–99.4%, test scenario III), respectively.Conclusion: In all three test scenarios the mean specificities were above 90% which indicates that dogs can distinguish SARS-CoV-2-infections from other viral infections. However, compared to earlier studies our scent dogs achieved lower diagnostic sensitivities. To deploy COVID-19 detection dogs as a reliable screening method it is therefore mandatory to include a variety of samples from different viral respiratory tract infections in dog training to ensure a successful discrimination process.

【 授权许可】

Unknown