ArticlePloS one2020
Can the detection dog alert on COVID-19 positive persons by sniffing axillary sweat samples? A proof-of-concept study.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04578509 (Evaluation of a Screening Program for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the General Population Based on the Use of New Detection Approaches or for Diagnostic Orientation on Saliva), which is not on this map. Cited by 56 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Evaluation of a Screening Program for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the General Population Based on the Use of New Detection Approaches or for Diagnostic Orientation on Saliva (COVID-19)
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 104 citations in OpenAlex.
- Remote Medical Scent Detection of Cancer and Infectious Diseases With Dogs and Rats: A Systematic Review.Integrative cancer therapiesPooled it
- Sniffer dogs performance is stable over time in detecting COVID-19 positive samples and agrees with the rapid antigen test in the field.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Scent dogs in detection of COVID-19: triple-blinded randomised trial and operational real-life screening in airport setting.BMJ global health · 2022Trial
- Scent dog identification of SARS-CoV-2 infections in different body fluids.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Trial
- Trained Scent Dog Detection and GC-MS Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds from Murine Coronavirus-Infected Cell Cultures.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Diversity in chemosensory receptor genes in dogs and wolves: degeneration of the olfactory receptor gene repertoire in the brachycephalic Pug.Chemical senses · 2025Article
- Can dogs sniff out cancer? Exploring the role of medical detection dogs in Hong Kong's early diagnosis strategies.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Analysis of the Urine Volatilome of COVID-19 Patients and the Possible Metabolic Alterations Produced by the Disease.Metabolites · 2024Article
- Scent Detection Threshold of Trained Dogs toAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Can scent-detection dogs detect the stress associated with trauma cue exposure in people with trauma histories? A proof-of-concept study.Frontiers in allergy · 2024Article
- Dogs' ability to detect an inflammatory immune response in cattle via olfaction.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Article
- Article
- Sensitivity and specificity ofHeliyon · 2023Article
- Potential for Early Noninvasive COVID-19 Detection Using Electronic-Nose Technologies and Disease-Specific VOC Metabolic Biomarkers.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Interactions between Humans and Dogs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recent Updates and Future Perspectives.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Development of a safety protocol for training and using SARS-CoV-2 detection dogs: A pilot study.Journal of veterinary behavior : clinical applications and research : official journal of : Australian Veterinary Behaviour Interest Group, International Working Dog Breeding Association · 2023Article
- Unraveling the potential of breath and sweat VOC capture devices for human disease detection: a systematic-like review of canine olfaction and GC-MS analysis.Frontiers in chemistry · 2023Review
- Is diagnostic performance of SARS-CoV-2 detection dogs reduced -due to virus variation- over the time?Applied animal behaviour science · 2023Article
- Sniffing out safety: canine detection and identification of SARS-CoV-2 infection from armpit sweat.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
44 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The aim of this proof-of-concept study was to evaluate if trained dogs could discriminate between sweat samples from symptomatic COVID-19 positive individuals (SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive) and those from asymptomatic COVID-19 negative individuals. The study was conducted at 2 sites (Paris, France, and Beirut, Lebanon), followed the same training and testing protocols, and involved six detection dogs (three explosive detection dogs, one search and rescue dog, and two colon cancer detection dogs). A total of 177 individuals were recruited for the study (95 symptomatic COVID-19 positive and 82 asymptomatic COVID-19 negative individuals) from five hospitals, and one underarm sweat sample per individual was collected. The dog training sessions lasted between one and three weeks. Once trained, the dog had to mark the COVID-19 positive sample randomly placed behind one of three or four olfactory cones (the other cones contained at least one COVID-19 negative sample and between zero and two mocks). During the testing session, a COVID-19 positive sample could be used up to a maximum of three times for one dog. The dog and its handler were both blinded to the COVID-positive sample location. The success rate per dog (i.e., the number of correct indications divided by the number of trials) ranged from 76% to 100%. The lower bound of the 95% confidence interval of the estimated success rate was most of the time higher than the success rate obtained by chance after removing the number of mocks from calculations. These results provide some evidence that detection dogs may be able to discriminate between sweat samples from symptomatic COVID-19 individuals and those from asymptomatic COVID-19 negative individuals. However, due to the limitations of this proof-of-concept study (including using some COVID-19 samples more than once and potential confounding biases), these results must be confirmed in validation studies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.