CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019/COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and has resulted in an ongoing pandemic. On 5 October, the WHO said that one in ten people around the world (around 800 million) may have been infected with COVID–19. As of 11 October 2020, 37.2 million cases have been reported across 188 countries and territories with more than 1.07 million deaths; more than 25.9 million people have recovered.
Common symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties, and loss of smell and taste. While most people have mild symptoms, some people develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) possibly precipitated by cytokine storm, multi-organ failure, septic shock, and blood clots. The incubation period may range from one to fourteen days.
The disease spreads most often when people are physically close. It spreads very easily and sustainably through the air, primarily via small droplets and sometimes in aerosols, as an infected person breathes, coughs, sneezes, talks, or sings. It may also be transmitted via contaminated surfaces, although this has not been conclusively demonstrated It can spread from an infected person for up to two days prior to symptom onset and from people who are asymptomatic. People remain infectious for seven to twelve days in moderate cases and up to two weeks in severe cases. The standard method of diagnosis is by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) from a nasopharyngeal swab. Chest CT imaging may also be helpful for diagnosis in individuals where there is a high suspicion of infection based on symptoms and risk factors, however guidelines do not recommend using it for routine screening.
Recommended measures to prevent infection include frequent hand washing, social distancing, quarantine, covering coughs and sneezes, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. The use of face masks or cloth face coverings has been recommended by health officials in public settings to minimise the risk of transmissions, with some authorities requiring their use in certain settings, such as on public transport and in shops. Health officials also stated that medical-grade face masks, such as N95 masks, should be used only by healthcare workers, first responders, and those who directly care for infected individuals.
COVID-19 sniffing dogs
Here in
Lischnitz Kennels,
we’re currently starting on working with dogs to detect Covid-19.
The most common breeds used for this work are of course Weimaraner and Malinois, but we plan to use also other high quality breeds.
We will also negotiate with health authorities to collect sweat samples from people who have tested positive to the virus, and from those who are negative. We hope to start collecting these within the next few months.
We will need to collect thousands of negative samples to make sure the dogs aren’t detecting other viral infection, such as the common cold or influenza.
Such detector dogs would be hugely valuable in many scenarios, such as screening people at airports and state borders, or monitoring staff working in aged care facilities and hospitals daily (so they don’t need repeat testing).
To properly train a dog to detect SARS-CoV-2, it takes:
6-8 weeks for a dog that is already trained to detect other scents, or
4-8 months for a dog that has never been trained.