The German army is reportedly training dogs to sniff out COVID-19 in infected human beings as the country’s official caseload spiked to 196,554.
In a joint project of the German army and the Foundation of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, sniffer dogs based at the military’s K9 Dog Training Center in the western German town of Ulmen are being trained to detect coronavirus infections in human saliva.
10 dogs which include: shepherds, spaniels, and retrievers have been enrolled for the scientific study.
The basis for the COVID-19 project was that sniffer dogs can not only detect explosives or drugs from the molecular composition of an odor but also smell various types of cancer and the imminent hypoglycemia of diabetics.
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It added that the first reliable results of the study should be available in the coming weeks.
There is, however, a risk of dogs getting infected. In rare cases, pets can also contract the virus, as two new studies show that the virus can also be transmitted from humans to animals.
Nevertheless, dogs are being trained in other countries such as the USA, Finland, and the UK as well to detect the COVID-19.