@mackayim2022@PieterPeach
Any thoughts on whether it's worthwhile to try and get #covid detector dogs into more hospitals?
There is (or has been) a trial at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in South Australia
@PieterPeach@mackayim2022
I've donated to the research program underway at University of Adelaide, that's supplied trained dogs for the pilot program in the Lyell McEwin Hospital
@PieterPeach@mackayim2022
But getting dogs into a Melbourne hospital would be a new initiative... and might require working with some Victorian based hospital/medical charitable foundation... to help turn it into a reality
Food for thought... but until we have real time air sampling bio-sensors, dogs seem like a logical interim measure
@sarahmare@mackayim2022 interest to know if the VOCs detects by the canines are COVID-19 specific. Would be unlikely but the utility is still there even if not.
@sarahmare@mackayim2022 they mentioned testing people with and without SARS-COV-2 infection but they do they mention whether people acutely infected with other viruses with similar symptoms are also included as a control?
@PieterPeach@mackayim2022
Not clear if the Adelaide study does this... but it appears that some studies do, if I have correctly interpreted the 'supplementary material' associated with this paper:
@PieterPeach@mackayim2022
Sounds like you have to include other diseases in the training process.
From the overview article "...the incomparable velocity of the canine detection of only seconds clearly show that dogs could be valuable for detecting infectious diseases as a supportive measure"
However, like explosives detection dogs... a performance certification/recertification process is required...
@mackayim2022@PieterPeach
I'm seeing this a way you could screen asymptomatic visitors/staff/patients who you wouldn't usually ask to do a PCR test.
Something you would add as another layer of protection to reduce transmission in our hospital system.
@mackayim2022@sarahmare@PieterPeach Definitely. I don’t see hospitals implementing such a measure anyway for a myriad of reasons, costs and hygiene immediately come to mind. Note: I like dogs.
@nicolaisabelle@mackayim2022@sarahmare There may be several barriers, but hygiene is not one of them. We have dogs in our hospital regularly including in the intensive care unit. Makes the patients’ (and my) day.
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