Anti Covid Dog Project

Olfactory training

Training dogs and their extremely sensitive sense of smell to quickly and effectively identify people positive to coronavirus through sweat: this is the objective of the project launched by Italpol Vigilanza, a Roman company specialized in vigilance and safety, First company in Italy to do so. The chemical composition of human sweat varies in people depending on whether or not Sarscov2 is positive. According to a study conducted by the University of Hanover, anti-Covid dogs are able to differentiate sweat samples of the infected patient from samples of healthy individuals.

The canine nose has over 300 million sensory receptors (compared to 6 million of the human being) and a high number of olfactory neurons that allow it to perceive an extraordinarily large amount of volatile organic substances, including metabolites derived from viral infections such as Covid-19. In the first phase of training, dogs have developed specifically the ability to recognize the virus through the use of special kits that simulate the human odor. Once this competence is trained, the animals will be confronted with field training.

Article from guidominciotti.blog.ilsole24ore.