Around 100 volunteer travelers get sniffed at Helsinki-Vantaa airport every day
Researchers from the University of Helsinki in collaboration with sniffer dog specialists from the organization Wise Nose, are currently carrying out a screening experiment for Covid-19 at Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Finland. The principle of the study? Use sniffer dogs to detect whether or not travelers are carriers of Covid-19. In total, the experiment is to last four months.
Since the installation of the test booth in the arrivals hall of the airport at the end of September, three dogs (Kössi, ET and Miina) have therefore sniffed no less than 2,200 passengers. To do this, voluntary travelers (about a hundred per day) are given a special wipe on the neck before waiting to obtain the results. The wipes are then placed in another room before being submitted to the dogs’ muzzles.
According to the researchers, dogs are able to identify the virus in just ten seconds. If the dog reveals a positive case, the traveler is then subjected to a PCR test for confirmation.
Promising results according to researchers
If the experiment is not yet finished (it ends in December), the team of researchers announces promising results. Anna Hielm-Bojorkman, adjunct professor at the University of Helsinki, explains: “ What we have seen in our research is that dogs can detect Covid-19 around five days before the person tested shows clinical symptoms. “
During a press conference held on Wednesday, October 28, Timo Aronkytö, deputy mayor of Vantaa said: “ We have performed 16-17,000 PCR tests at the airport and less than one percent is positive, “detecting the virus in 0.6% of travelers. […] Compared to results found by dogs, PCR tests are about the same “.
Covid-19 sniffer dogs, a first in Europe
Already used to detect certain cancers, sniffer dogs could thus become new screening tools for Covid-19. If sniffer dogs have already been used through experiments in the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Chile and Dubai, Finland is the first country in Europe to use this method.
Although this screening technique has not yet been adopted by the authorities, researchers at the University of Helsinki hope that their research will be able to deploy it in tourist places and other public gatherings.
