Wow, Tracking Dogs In Lebanon Can Detect Variants Of COVID-19

JAKARTA - With shiny fur and sparkling white teeth, at first glance a sniffer dog named Sky looks unlikely to be used as a Lebanese weapon in the fight against the corona virus.

Even though there are currently cases of COVID-19 in Lebonon, attention and vigilance remain high. This goes hand in hand with the approaching summer and easing of restrictions.

Vaccination programs are also continuing in the country, with concerns over the inability of hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients gradually subside. However, the emergence of the Delta variant from India, made local authorities on alert.

The Delta variant previously referred to as the Indian variant is known, causing the UK to extend its lockdown for another four weeks and other countries may be forced to do the same.

Doctors in Beirut fear the country could be vulnerable to another peak next year if the Delta variant begins to proliferate. As a precautionary measure, local authorities use sniffer dogs such as Sky, which can even distinguish new variants of COVID-19.

"The dogs' sense of smell is so finely tuned, they can tell the difference between the standard strain of COVID-19 and newer variants like Delta," said Riad Sarkis, the French-Lebanese doctor behind the programme.

"We knew that there was a variant because the dog gave us a new reaction, and we knew from this reaction that something was different," he said, a year after retraining his sniffer dog to look for the virus.

"Our dogs are able to detect specifically all types of COVID-19," said Riad Sarkis.

The dogs were originally trained for other purposes, detecting everything from explosives to narcotics. Then, more than 12 years ago, Dr Sarkis began researching dogs' ability to sniff out cancer. The result is very good.

When the pandemic hit, Dr Sarkis immediately shifted his research efforts, wondering if the dogs could detect COVID-19.

"Turns out they can, and with more accuracy than the PCR test," claims Dr Sarkis.

Now, he has trained the dogs to sniff out the COVID-19 variant that threatens to prolong the pandemic in Lebanon.

Carlo Selman, who co-trained the dogs, said after two months of intensive training, the dogs could sniff out the COVID-19 variant in seconds, much faster than waiting hours for the results of a swab test.

"They can be deployed to check arriving airport passengers, establish their coronavirus status within minutes," he explained.

"I'm glad we succeeded, as we did in detecting explosives and uncovering terrorism. Today we uncover the terror of this pandemic," he concluded.