Observational studyJournal of travel medicine2022
Using trained dogs and organic semi-conducting sensors to identify asymptomatic and mild SARS-CoV-2 infections: an observational study.
Observational study in Journal of travel medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04509713 (Using Medical-detection Dogs to Identify People With SARS-CoV-), which is not on this map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Using Medical-detection Dogs to Identify People With SARS-CoV-: Phase I: Proof-of-concept Studies
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Remote Medical Scent Detection of Cancer and Infectious Diseases With Dogs and Rats: A Systematic Review.Integrative cancer therapiesPooled it
- Scent dogs in detection of COVID-19: triple-blinded randomised trial and operational real-life screening in airport setting.BMJ global health · 2022Trial
- Dogs' Detection of Symptomatic and Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 by Non-Working Dogs: Feasibility and Limits Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- A large scale study of portable sweat test sensor for accurate, non-invasive and rapid COVID-19 screening based on volatile compound marker detection.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The science behind the nose: correlating volatile organic compound characterisation with canine biodetection of COVID-19.ERJ open research · 2024Article
- Sensitivity and specificity ofHeliyon · 2023Article
- Breath Analysis of COVID-19 Patients in a Tertiary UK Hospital by Optical Spectrometry: The E-Nose CoVal Study.Biosensors · 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
- Canine real-time detection of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the context of a mass screening event.BMJ global health · 2022Article
- In search of COVID-19: The ability of biodetection canines to detect COVID-19 odours from clinical samples.Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2022Article
- Travel measures in the SARS-CoV-2 variant era need clear objectives.Lancet (London, England) · 2022Article
- The Use and Potential of Biomedical Detection Dogs During a Disease Outbreak.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
- Expert considerations and consensus for using dogs to detect human SARS-CoV-2-infections.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Use of trained scent dogs for detection of COVID-19 and evidence of cost-saving.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Detection of Post-COVID-19 Patients Using Medical Scent Detection Dogs-A Pilot Study.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Travel in the Time of COVID: A Review of International Travel Health in a Global Pandemic.Current infectious disease reports · 2022Review
- Canine olfactory detection and its relevance to medical detection.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Review
- Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 Infections From Other Viral Respiratory Infections by Scent Detection Dogs.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
30 authors at 7 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundA rapid, accurate, non-invasive diagnostic screen is needed to identify people with SARS-CoV-2 infection. We investigated whether organic semi-conducting (OSC) sensors and trained dogs could distinguish between people infected with asymptomatic or mild symptoms, and uninfected individuals, and the impact of screening at ports-of-entry.
methodsOdour samples were collected from adults, and SARS-CoV-2 infection status confirmed using RT-PCR. OSC sensors captured the volatile organic compound (VOC) profile of odour samples. Trained dogs were tested in a double-blind trial to determine their ability to detect differences in VOCs between infected and uninfected individuals, with sensitivity and specificity as the primary outcome. Mathematical modelling was used to investigate the impact of bio-detection dogs for screening.
resultsAbout, 3921 adults were enrolled in the study and odour samples collected from 1097 SARS-CoV-2 infected and 2031 uninfected individuals. OSC sensors were able to distinguish between SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals and uninfected, with sensitivity from 98% (95% CI 95-100) to 100% and specificity from 99% (95% CI 97-100) to 100%. Six dogs were able to distinguish between samples with sensitivity ranging from 82% (95% CI 76-87) to 94% (95% CI 89-98) and specificity ranging from 76% (95% CI 70-82) to 92% (95% CI 88-96). Mathematical modelling suggests that dog screening plus a confirmatory PCR test could detect up to 89% of SARS-CoV-2 infections, averting up to 2.2 times as much transmission compared to isolation of symptomatic individuals only.
conclusionsPeople infected with SARS-CoV-2, with asymptomatic or mild symptoms, have a distinct odour that can be identified by sensors and trained dogs with a high degree of accuracy. Odour-based diagnostics using sensors and/or dogs may prove a rapid and effective tool for screening large numbers of people.Trial Registration NCT04509713 (clinicaltrials.gov).
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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.