Dogs Detect Covid-19 Fast & Reliably, Tests Almost 100% Accurate: Why Not Use Them More?: Finland

[appalachiablue]

- Snifer dog Kossi learned to detect Covid-19 in just 7 minutes.

- 'Dogs detect coronavirus fast and reliably — why not use them everywhere?'; Finnish researchers say their canine sniffer experts can detect COVID-19 quickly and cheaply but, so far, their skills are hardly used to control the pandemic. DW, Oct. 21, 2020.

~ "A dog could easily save so so, so many lives," University of Helsinki veterinary researcher Anna Hielm-Bjorkman told DW, who says their testing has shown an accuracy level of nearly 100%. ~

Europe is in a panic over the second wave of COVID-19, with infection rates sky-rocketing and GDP plummeting. Belgium has just announced it will no longer test asymptomatic people, even if they've been in contact with someone who has the disease, because the backlog in processing is overwhelming. Other European countries are also struggling to keep up testing and tracing.

Meanwhile in a small cabin in Helsinki airport, for his preferred payment of a morsel of cat food, rescue dog Kossi needs just a few seconds to tell whether someone has coronavirus. If it were left to Kossi and his pals, crowds of potential virus carriers could be cleared in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost with none of the physical discomfort that accompanies the current nasal swab test based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.

> No human nose needed: A dog can sniff a cloth wiped on a wrist or neck and immediately identify if it comes from someone who has contracted the virus as much as 5 days before any symptoms appear which would lead a person to go into isolation. "A dog could easily save so so, so many lives," University of Helsinki veterinary researcher Anna Hielm-Bjorkman told DW, who says their testing has shown an accuracy level of nearly 100%.

It was originally her idea to see whether Kossi, a talented disease-detection dog, could redirect his skills in sniffing out mold, bedbugs and cancer to detecting the new virus just as it started to spread in Europe. "It took him 7 minutes to figure out 'okay, this is what you want me to look out for," Hielm-Bjorkman said. "So that totally blew our minds."...

https://www.dw.com/en/dogs-detect-coronavirus-fast-and-reliably-why-not-use-them-everywhere/a-55340369



- Helsinki Airport uses sniffer dogs to detect the coronavirus, but funding is running out.

[kirkuchiyo]

1. I'll tell you why!

Cause drug companies won't make any money off of it.

[appalachiablue]

3. Big bucks must keep coming in of course. The abilities

of disease detecting canines are amazing and lifesavers.

[Duppers]

11. Another reason...

We don't yet have a Democratic administration.



Dogs rule. 🐕

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. How long does it take to train the dogs?

Can they test and test over again and remain accurate for however many hours?

Then do the math about how many dogs we'd need to train in this country. Many thousands, I'm sure.

[TwilightZone]

4. Yeah, that's the answer.

I think logistics would be the main issue here.

[Laurelin]

5. 7 minutes

isn't that what the except says?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. They were already trained for other odors, though.

It was the switch to detecting Covid that was fast.

[appalachiablue]

8. Correct, disease detecting canines are quick learners,

massively less expensive and faster than drug testing companies. But not nearly as profitable.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Sounds great, but back here on earth...

https://slate.com/technology/2020/08/covid-19-sniffing-dogs.html

While COVID-sniffing dogs could certainly be a helpful new technology, these logistical and ethical concerns may make the entire enterprise more trouble than it’s worth. For instance, a LiveScience piece points out that the first paper suggesting dogs could help sniff out cancer was published in 1989, but it’s never really caught on because of how time-consuming the training is, and how hard it is to keep the dogs engaged in the field, where they can’t be immediately rewarded for a job well done—you can’t wait until a case is confirmed to give a dog a treat. Similarly, after promising preliminary results showing dogs can identify malaria or Parkinson’s disease, we have yet to see dogs being deployed for screenings. The benefits of training these dogs outweigh the new insights, as our existing diagnostic tools are still more readily available and easier to deploy.

[mitch96]

9. This is brilliant.. Why can't private company's use them? Restaurants? Hospitals?

Screw the Gov't and do it on your own.... If you want to come in you get a sniff test and a pass / fail...Job done..
This would be great in nursing homes and the inmates would love it!!! I love pooch smooches!!!
Doesn't take rocket science to fig this one out.. Then again there is the double blind placebo controlled scientific test to prove to the repukes it works. then they say it's a Dem plot to over throw the Govt..
YMMV
m

[appalachiablue]

10. It would be fast & effective in all those settings, man's best

friend has evolved with humans and knows us like no other. Also dogs want wags over wages!

But what about profits for complex testing by the giant medical and pharma industry? Lol.

[lagomorph777]

12. Because COVID kills dogs too.

Why expose them when tests are available (or would be if not for Trump's malfeasance).

[scarletlib]

13. Dogs and cats.

Beautiful creatures who reward us with their love and loyalty. Do we as a species really deserve that?

[BeckyDem]

14. It wouldn't hurt the United States to do a lot more things that Finland does.

Just sayin'.

[appalachiablue]

15. Like Finland's education system, No. 1 best in the world 2018:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-is-the-best-in-the-world

[BeckyDem]

16. Outstanding.

Ya know, it's nurturing too which America needs big time.