Screening for SARS-CoV-2 persistence in Long COVID patients using sniffer dogs and scents from axillary sweats samples,Grandjean et al, 2022

Abstract

Objectives Dogs can be trained to identify several substances not detected by humans, corresponding to specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The presence of VOCs, triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection, was tested in sweat from Long COVID patients.

Patients and methods An axillary sweat sample of Long COVID patients and of COVID-19 negative, asymptomatic individuals was taken at home to avoid any hospital contact. Swabs were randomly placed in olfaction detection cones, and the material sniffed by at least 2 trained dogs.

Results Forty-five Long COVID patients, mean age 45 (6-71), 73.3% female, with prolonged symptoms evolving for a mean of 15.2 months (5-22) were tested. Dogs discriminated in a positive way 23/45 (51.1%). Long COVID patients versus 0/188 (0%) control individuals (p<.0001).

Conclusion This study suggests the persistence of a viral infection in some Long COVID patients and the possibility of providing a simple, highly sensitive, non-invasive test to detect viral presence, during acute and extended phases of COVID-19.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.11.21268036v1

 

Dr. Daniel Griffin mentions this study briefly in his latest clinical updated from This Week in Virology.

- I think this would be great for me to use in my clinic when they're tying to deny disability. I can be like: I'm sorry, but the dog has confirmed Long Covid in this individual.

At 13.32 - 15.30 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acosxniy78E

 

The study has been published here: https://www.longdom.org/open-access...s-and-scents-from-axillary-sweats-samples.pdf

A similar study titled "Detektion und Entschlüsselung von Post COVID mit Hunden, Metabolomik und Machine Learning (COVID Dogolomics)" i.e. "Detection and decoding of post COVID with dogs, metabolomics and machine learning (COVID Dogolomics)" is currently underway https://www.umg.eu/forschung/corona/cofoni/sb-5/projekt-4lzf23/. Some of the authors of the above paper are working on this newer study.