Research Tuesdays: Covid pawsitive . . .

Six dogs have commenced research trials at Adelaide Airport to determine the feasibility of deploying dogs to detect COVID-19.

Trials of COVID-19 sniffer dogs under way at Adelaide Airport.听听

Our most loyal companions could soon be among our most valuable frontline health workers.

Remarkably, specially trained dogs can now identify positive COVID-19 cases faster, earlier and more reliably than any rapid antigen test currently used worldwide.

Dr Anne-Lise Chaberis a senior lecturer in the 成人大片鈥檚 School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences.

鈥淪pecially trained dogs are able to sniff out and identify positive COVID-19 cases faster and earlier than PCR and more reliably than the rapid antigen tests currently used,鈥 she said.

The 成人大片 is leading this research in Australia, sharing results with collaborators spanning 22 countries.

鈥淪pecially trained dogs are able to sniff out and identify positive COVID-19 cases faster and earlier than PCR and more reliably than the rapid antigen tests currently used."Dr Anne-Lise Chaber, senior lecturer in the 成人大片鈥檚 School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences

鈥淒ogs have a remarkable ability to home in on COVID-positive and their strike rate for sniffing out the virus is more than 97 per cent, even in symptom-free cases in controlled settings.鈥

The widespread use of the sniffer dogs as a rapid and mobile screening tool - at borders, events, and healthcare facilities - offers enormous potential benefits: more families and friends reunited, more businesses kept afloat, more lives saved.

In this exciting first Research Tuesdays presentation for 2022, people will find out how the training works, how the University is leading efforts to upscale global training capacity, and why this could be a pivotal moment in humanity鈥檚 broader fight against infectious disease.

The presenter:

Dr Chaber is a senior lecturer at the 成人大片鈥檚 School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences. She has more than 10 years鈥 experience as a field epidemiologist in England, Botswana and the UAE and has conducted research on the detection and transmission of multiple diseases, including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus at the wildlife-livestock-human interface.

WHAT:听听Covid pawsitive
WHO:听听 Dr Anne-Lise Chaber
WHERE:听听In person at the Braggs Lecture Theatre, 成人大片, North Terrace campus.
Or register and watch the live
Zoom webinar via the Research Tuesdays website
/research/events/research-tuesdays
or watch the live stream via the Research Tuesdays Facebook page.

WHEN:听 5.30鈥6.30 pm, Tuesday 8 March 2022

COST:听听Free event

FURTHER INFO:听

Tagged in sniffer dogs, COVID-19, featured story, research