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Front Med (Lausanne)

Title:		Discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 Infections From Other Viral Respiratory Infections by Scent Detection Dogs
Author(s):		Ten Hagen NA; Twele F; Meller S; Jendrny P; Schulz C; von Kockritz-Blickwede M; Osterhaus A; Ebbers H; Pink I; Welte T; Manns MP; Illig T; Fathi A; Addo MM; Nitsche A; Puyskens A; Michel J; Krause E; Ehmann R; von Brunn A; Ernst C; Zwirglmaier K; Wolfel R; Nau A; Philipp E; Engels M; Schalke E; Volk HA;
Address:		"Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany. Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany. Department of Biochemistry, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany. KynoScience Unternehmergesellschaft, Horstel, Germany. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Hannover Unified Biobank, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University Medical-Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. Department for Clinical Immunology of Infectious Diseases, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany. German Center for Infection Research, Hamburg-Lubeck- Borstel-Riems, Hamburg, Germany. Center for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens (ZBS) 1, Highly Pathogenic Viruses, World Health Organisation Reference Laboratory for SARS-CoV-2 and World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Emerging Infections and Biological Threats, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany. Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany. Max von Pettenkofer-Institute, Virology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany. German Center for Infection Research, Munich, Germany. Bundeswehr Medical Service Headquarters, Koblenz, Germany. Military Medical Center, Furstenfeldbruck, Germany. Bundeswehr School of Dog Handling, Grafin-Maltzan-Kaserne, Ulmen, Germany"
Journal Title:		Front Med (Lausanne)
Year:		2021
Volume:		20211118
Issue:
Page Number:		749588 -
DOI:		10.3389/fmed.2021.749588
ISSN/ISBN:		2296-858X (Print) 2296-858X (Electronic) 2296-858X (Linking)
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"
Keywords:		Covid-19 SARS-CoV-2 canine coronavirus scent detection dog screening test volatile organic compound (VOC);
Notes:		"PubMed-not-MEDLINETen Hagen, Nele Alexandra Twele, Friederike Meller, Sebastian Jendrny, Paula Schulz, Claudia von Kockritz-Blickwede, Maren Osterhaus, Ab Ebbers, Hans Pink, Isabell Welte, Tobias Manns, Michael Peter Illig, Thomas Fathi, Anahita Addo, Marylyn Martina Nitsche, Andreas Puyskens, Andreas Michel, Janine Krause, Eva Ehmann, Rosina von Brunn, Albrecht Ernst, Christiane Zwirglmaier, Katrin Wolfel, Roman Nau, Alexandra Philipp, Eva Engels, Michael Schalke, Esther Volk, Holger Andreas eng Switzerland 2021/12/07 Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Nov 18; 8:749588. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.749588. eCollection 2021"