We have all heard that dogs can be trained to sniff out PCa in urine samples, with a reported success rate of about
97 %. First video below gives some more detail on that.
The second video tells of work now underway to train dogs to do something similar for people with coronavirus, to become able to detect the presence of it in them, even if they are asymptomatic.
Video 2 also claims that coronavirus-sniffing dogs could be out there at work "in six months." Another video on this topic that I saw claims that such dogs could screen 200 people an hour or more.
Reminds me of the well-known image of a hunter dog out in the field, with his gun-bearing owner, and as the dog senses prey, he freezes in position, one paw raised, and "pointing" in the direction of the target. (You hunters, do hunting dogs actually do this?). I suppose coronavirus sniffer dogs would do something similar (or maybe just bark) when they would "sniff positive" on a human subject.
If this does become practical, and large numbers of such dogs can be trained and dispersed most everywhere, will the public accept their presence? One imagines, for example, that those who object to wearing masks wouldn't feel much easier about
being sniffed by a dog upon attempting entry into a department store. Despite the fact that the store may have a our-dog-sniffs-you-or-you-don't-enter policy.
But that's a matter to be worked out later. For now, the prospect of having man's best friend as another tool for use against the pandemic is exciting, if it can be realized.
And maybe it's just the romantic in me, but I like to think that the dogs themselves, if they were performing this service for us, might even feel a bit of canine satisfaction that they were indeed doing this good thing for their masters.
PCa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvzgtgxrnqkCoronavirus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d91ziol0vag