Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 Infections From Other Viral Respiratory Infections by Scent Detection Dogs.
Front Med (Lausanne)
; 8: 749588, 2021.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34869443
ABSTRACT
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.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
/
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Screening_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Front Med (Lausanne)
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha