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. 2021:3:100155.
doi: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2021.100155. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Preliminary accuracy of COVID-19 odor detection by canines and HS-SPME-GC-MS using exhaled breath samples

Julian Mendel  1   2   3 , Kelvin Frank  2   3 , Lourdes Edlin  4 , Kelley Hall  4 , Denise Webb  4 , John Mills  4 , Howard K Holness  2   3 , Kenneth G Furton  2   3 , DeEtta Mills  1   2   3
Affiliations

Preliminary accuracy of COVID-19 odor detection by canines and HS-SPME-GC-MS using exhaled breath samples

Julian Mendel et al. Forensic Sci Int Synerg. 2021.

Abstract

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, since its initial outbreak in Wuhan, China has led to a worldwide pandemic and has shut down nations. As with any outbreak, there is a general strategy of detection, containment, treatment and/or cure. The authors would argue that rapid and efficient detection is critical and required to successful management of a disease. The current study explores and successfully demonstrates the use of canines to detect COVID-19 disease in exhaled breath. The intended use was to detect the odor of COVID-19 on contaminated surfaces inferring recent deposition of infectious material from a COVID-19 positive individual. Using masks obtained from hospitalized patients that tested positive for COVID-19 disease, four canines were trained and evaluated for their ability to detect the disease. All four canines obtained an accuracy >90% and positive predictive values ranging from ~73 to 93% after just one month of training.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Scent discriminating canines; Volatile organic compounds.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The four canines used in this study Cobra (Left), Mac (Center left), Hubble (Center right) and One Betta (Right).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Canine Cobra using the training wheel.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Impact of 10-min UV-C irradiation on a mixture of volatiles. A Student's T-test indicated no significant difference between peak areas of the compounds before and after UV-C treatment (p > 0.05).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
PLS-DA showing class separation of HS-SPME-GCMS VOCs from COVID-19 positive PPE (masks) vs COVID-19 negative PPE (masks).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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