Claim: dogs can smell covid infections

Question

A CNN article came out and claimed that dogs may be able to smell infectious diseases, and can help detect covid in K-12 school. Is this true?

Comments

According to UC Santa Barbara Science and Technology, Dogs can technically smell "symptoms" of COVID-19 illnesses. Professor at UCSB Tommy Dickey did some research, after working with therapy dogs he decided to look into the science part of things and began to conduct a study. He claims dogs can do the same work that an at-home covid test does, which consists of 95% accuracy.  Which overall means dogs can sniff out Presymtimcatic, asymptomatic and symptomatic forms of covid-19.

https://news.ucsb.edu/2023/021174/dogs-can-detect-covid-19-infections-faster-and-more-accurately-conventional-technology#:~:text=The%20dog%20standard&text=All%20these%20enhancements%20mean%20that,swimming%20pools%2C”%20Dickey%20said.

Answer 1

This article discusses the ability for dogs to be trained to smell covid. "Professional trainers claimed high success rates of dogs sniffing out COVID-19 infections, and a few small studies backed them up. In one, specially trained dogs were 97% accurate in sniffing out COVID-19 from sweat samples taken from 335 people."   Their heightened sense of smell can be trained and directed to sniff out covid 19 infections and will become more common in the future.

https://www.uclahealth.org/news/specially-trained-dogs-can-sniff-out-covid-19-infection#:~:text=Professional%20trainers%20claimed%20high%20success,samples%20taken%20from%20335%20people.

Answer 2

This claim is true. According to Sonia Fernandez at UC Santa Barbara's The Current, since dogs have hundreds of millions of olfactory receptors and a third of their brain is devoted to interpreting smells, they can detect low concentrations of odors associated with Covid. Fernandez also says, "In some cases, dogs were able to detect COVID in pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic patients whose viral load was too low for conventional tests to work. And not only that, Dickey added, dogs can distinguish COVID and its variants in the presence of other potentially confounding respiratory viruses, such as those of the common cold or flu." In September 2021, the CDC Foundation partnered with the Association of Public Health Laboratories to train two labradors in detecting Covid. During the eight-week training process, the dogs correctly identified over 90% of the trials.

Answer 3

The article from CNN written by Jacqueline Howard claims that dogs can detect Covid-19 infections in K-12 schools by smelling the feet of children. Studies have shown that this is true. The California Department of Public Health conducted a study that showed after two months of training, the dogs had a greater than 95% detection rate for the virus. Overall, that would make this claim true.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2804205

Answer 4

This claim mis-informs the readers because the article provided does not claim that dogs can smell Covid infections. It suggests that "the results are encouraging [and] there is a potential for dogs to be incorporated into threat monitoring" (Howard). Being there are multiple strains, antigen testing via trained dogs is not yet sufficient because these dogs need to be alerted to all strains which may be challenging. The article states that there will always be "some amount of backup testing" partially due to the fact that this type of testing requires "rigorous training" that can take months (Howard). Another article published by UC Santa Barbara suggests this type of testing is less likely to be adopted by bigger countries because it is more complicated and has a higher margin of error.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/24/health/covid-dogs-california-schools-study/index.html

https://news.ucsb.edu/2023/021174/dogs-can-detect-covid-19-infections-faster-and-more-accurately-conventional-technology#:~:text=All%20these%20enhancements%20mean%20that,swimming%20pools%2C%E2%80%9D%20Dickey%20said.

Answer 5

As information provided by the Hospital of Central Connecticut, dogs prossess the ability to detect the fundemental immune responses exhibited in the human body in reaction to Covid- 19 and other changes in the immune system. This can be from the expectational strengeth of a dog's sense of smell. When your body mounts an immune repose to Covid-19 this sent allows dogs to detect the scent. They can detect this by the compounds emitted by our bodies when we are sick trhough sweat, urin, breath and the skin. This article states that a Dogs can continue to regognize indivisuals who have Covid 19, even post symptoms. The current study shows promising evidence but needs additional research done with establish certanity.

Answer 6

Dogs can detect low odors assoicated with COVID19. An article from UCSB states, "In some cases, dogs were able to detect COVID in pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic patients whose viral load was too low for conventional tests to work" In another study done by UCLA talks about how dogs can decect covid quicker than rapid test. "Dogs detected infection up to 48 hours earlier than a PCR test. And while a rapid test requires a swab, chemical reagents and 10 minutes or so to produce results, the dog's response is immediate." Even with asymptomatic cases dogs can detect covid.

https://news.ucsb.edu/2023/021174/dogs-can-detect-covid-19-infections-faster-and-more-accurately-conventional-technology#:~:text=The%20dog%20standard&text=All%20these%20enhancements%20mean%20that,swimming%20pools%2C%E2%80%9D%20Dickey%20said.

https://www.uclahealth.org/news/specially-trained-dogs-can-sniff-out-covid-19-infection

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/dogs-detect-covid-accuracy-rcna31438

Answer 7

When I initially read this article on CNN I believed it to be true, and after fact checking this I do still believe it to be true. CNN is a reliable news source that is reporting on a story a dog who was smelling for COVID-19 symptoms at an elementary school in Northern California. The main claim of this article is using dogs in school is actually better than other options such as antigen tests because they use far more resources. The journalist who reported on this is Jacqualine Howard. Based on what CNN has to say she is a very real and legitimate. She was the first reporter at CNN to report on the pandemic and has been following it every since. This is a recent and relevent topic to what current time. According to The Current UC Santa Barbara dogs can "Dogs can detect COVID-19 infections faster and more accurately than conventional technology, demonstrating readiness for mainstream medical applications." I have determened that this source is accurate.

Answer 8

According to CNN, in a recent study, dogs have been found to be able to smell possible infectious diseases such as Covid-19. In a study from UCSB, it shows that dogs can detect a drop of odor in an Olympic-sized pool. They are not detecting the actual disease itself. It is rather the odor of some symptoms caused by Coid-19 itself.

https://news.ucsb.edu/2023/021174/dogs-can-detect-covid-19-infections-faster-and-more-accurately-conventional-technology#:~:text=The%20dog%20standard&text=All%20these%20enhancements%20mean%20that,swimming%20pools%2C%E2%80%9D%20Dickey%20said.

Answer 9

After doing further research, UCLA Health stated that specially trained dogs can in fact sniff out Covid-19 infections. UCLA Health says, "Professional trainers claimed high success rates of dogs sniffing out COVID-19 infections, and a few small studies backed them up. In one, specially trained dogs were 97% accurate in sniffing out COVID-19 from sweat samples taken from 335 people." So, the claim that dogs can smell covid infections is true.

https://www.uclahealth.org/news/specially-trained-dogs-can-sniff-out-covid-19-infection 

Answer 10

The Hospital of Central Connecticut has stated that dogs possess the remarkable ability to detect the fundamental immune responses exhibited by the human body in relation to COVID-19 and other immune alterations due to their highly developed sense of smell. Each individual's immune system emits a distinct scent, which undergoes a transformation when an immune response to COVID-19 occurs, thereby alerting dogs to the presence of an anomaly. As per the provided article, dogs are capable of identifying COVID-19 infection in individuals with a level of accuracy comparable to that of conventional tests. Even after the disappearance of symptoms, dogs can still discern individuals who have previously contracted COVID-19, as the subtle scent may persistently differ. 

https://thocc.org/about/news-press/news-detail?articleid=42926&publicId=395#:~:text=As%20it%20turns%20out%2C%20dogs,Bieluch.