Dogs being trained to diagnose bug and could screen 750 people an hour
A new project will see the dogs receive samples of fabric worn by coronavirus patients to see if the virus has a unique odour which they can detect which could allow them to screen people
These dogs are to be trained to sniff out the coronavirus and, if the world-leading project is a success, they could screen 750 people an hour.
Medical detection dogs have already been trained to detect diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s and malaria.
The Covid-19 project, the only one of its kind in the world, is a collaboration between the Medical Detection Dogs charity, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Durham University.
Professor James Logan, Head of the Department of Disease Control at the LSHTM, said: “It’s exciting because the project could move at speed as there are six dogs ready to be trained.”
Coronavirus vaccine may never be developed, warns expert
Professor Ian Frazer, one of the world's leading vaccine inventors, who co-invented the groundbreaking HPV cervical cancer vaccine, explained why developing a vaccine for Covid-19 could be "tricky", but added that the virus could also fade away
The Australian told news.com.au that trying to immunise against coronavirus was like trying to immunise against the common cold - difficult to impossible.
He added: “It is tricky, vaccines for upper respiratory tract diseases, because the virus lands on the outside of you."
Prof Frazer, of Queensland University, said 100 teams all over the world were testing for vaccines, but he stressed there was no model of how to attack Covid-19.
Immunising against flu was more straightforward, he said.
“Coronavirus doesn’t get into you, it stays on the surface cells in your lungs," he added. "All these flu viruses get into you, so the body can fight and makes T cells.
“This virus doesn’t kill the cells, it makes them sick. At the moment we don’t know how to make a coronavirus vaccine work. That’s why there are 100 vaccines under testing using every conceivable approach.