Dogs Detecting COVID-19 From Sweat and Saliva of Positive People: A Field Experience in Mexico

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Juan Manuel Mancilla-Tapia¹  Victoria Lozano-Esparza¹  Adrián Orduña¹  Reyna Fabiola Osuna-Chávez²  Ramón Enrique Robles-Zepeda²  Blayra Maldonado-Cabrera²  Jorge Rubén Bejar-Cornejo³  Iván Ruiz-León³  Carlos Gabriel González-Becuar³  Anna Hielm-Björkman⁴  Ana Novelo-González⁵  Victor Manuel Vidal-Martínez⁵ 

[1] Canine Training Center Obi-K19;División de Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud, Departamento de Agricultura y Ganadería, Universidad de Sonora;Hospital General del Estado de Sonora;Department of Clinical Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki;Laboratorio de Patología Acuática, Departamento de Recursos del Mar, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional Unidad Mérida

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    COVID-19;    sniffing dogs;    pathogen detection;    dog training;    olfactory detection;    bio-detection;    Mexico;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2022.837053

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Context Molecular tests are useful in detecting COVID-19, but they are expensive in developing countries. COVID-19-sniffing dogs are an alternative due to their reported sensitivity (>80%) and specificity (>90%). However, most of the published evidence is experimental, and there is a need to determine the performance of the dogs in field conditions. Hence, we aimed to test the sensitivity and specificity of COVID-19-sniffing dogs in the field. Methods We trained four dogs with sweat and three dogs with saliva of COVID-19-positive patients, respectively, for 4.5 months. The samples were obtained from a health center in Hermosillo, Sonora, with the restriction to spend 5 min per patient. We calculated sensitivity, specificity, and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Two sweat-sniffing dogs reached 76 and 80% sensitivity, with the 95% CI not overlapping the random value of 50%, and 75 and 88% specificity, with the 95% CI not overlapping the 50% value. The 95% CI of the sensitivity and specificity of the other two sweat dogs overlapped the 50% value. Two saliva-sniffing dogs had 70 and 78% sensitivity, and the 95% CI of their sensitivity and specificity did not overlap the 50% value. The 95% CI of the third dog's sensitivity and specificity overlapped the 50% value. Conclusion Four of the six dogs were able to detect positive samples of patients with COVID-19, with sensitivity and specificity values significantly different from random in the field. We considered the performance of the dogs promising because it is reasonable to expect that with gauze exposed for a longer time to sweat and saliva of people with COVID-19, their detection capacity would improve. The target is to reach the sensitivity range requested by the World Health Organization for the performance of an antigen test (≥80% sensitivity, ≥97% specificity). If so, dogs could become important allies for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in developing countries.

【 授权许可】

CC BY