In one of the high points of the series
The Investigation
, a Danish police officer searching for a sunken body in the sea proposes the use of trained dogs.
"They have 200 million olfactory receptors; humans, from five to six.
Their part of the brain that perceives the smell is 40 times greater than ours,
" he justifies before a skeptical superior, who asks him: "And are you sure that it will work?".
"No," he replies, "but the Swedes have had great results."
This extraordinary quality is treasured by
Dolce
and
Angus
, two Belgian Malinois, Setter and Golden Retriever mongrels who during the last four months have been trained for an incredible task:
"Detect the presence of the coronavirus in people
."
A unique diagnostic system, the result of a synergy between the Opcon Seguridad company, the Criminalistics Operational Division (Docrim) of the University of Granada and the Torrecárdenas University Hospital in Almería, which on Tuesday made the Jaén municipality of La Guardia
the first of the country where this technique is screened
.
Javier Hueso, manager of Opcon Seguridad, a company with long experience in the use of dogs to locate explosives and narcotics in large transport terminals, explained to EL MUNDO that they had information on the steps that were being taken to use these animals in the health field.
"They are used to detect cancer and malaria in early stages"
, therefore, when the pandemic broke out and "our trainer learned that a French team was working on the diagnosis of Covid-19 with dogs, we joined the project."
The smell of the infected
The first steps, "back in March", were not easy, since "it was difficult for us to get samples" to carry out training focused on
"detecting the odor cone or molecules that humans secrete
when infected with the disease."
The participation of the Docrim and the Torrecárdenas University Hospital facilitated the collection of samples and facilitated a training reinforced with positive stimuli.
"Every time the dog marked a gauze impregnated with sweat from an infected person,
he was rewarded with his bite or a piece of sausage,
" said Javier Hueso, who pointed out that these animals are capable of perceiving "two million molecules per second ":" They are detecting machines. "
This method of diagnosis has been certified after a series of tests that have included "double blind" tests.
"Neither the dog, nor the handler, nor anyone from the company knew which samples were infected with the virus," and the results were "very good."
"
The reliability percentage is higher than 95%
", as can be deduced from the studies that have been carried out in recent months.
"It is very difficult for a case of contagion to pass," said the manager, who acknowledges that "it is possible that a false positive could be reported, although the percentage is very low."
However, he specified that the protocol must include a confirmatory test that dispels doubts.
The massive screening of 'Dolce' and 'Angus'
This is what was screened in La Guardia, a town in Jaén where this Tuesday
its 5,000 inhabitants
were invited
to participate in a massive screening
where
Dolce
and
Angus
were the main protagonists.
A pilot test on which the mayor, Juan Morillo, explained that it would start at four in the afternoon at the Day Center, where
"a completely safe itinerary has been established."
"Our intention is that the neighbors, absolutely voluntarily, take this test. The dogs are trained to discover the presence of the coronavirus and, in the event that there is a person who has it,
immediately afterwards the PCR will be carried out to confirm it "
, detailed the councilor before this singular initiative began.
Javier Hueso described how the process of obtaining the samples is: "A gauze is placed in an armpit for a period of two minutes so that it is impregnated with sweat. Later, it is placed in metal containers - they cannot be plastic because they can confuse the smell - and the dog walks by.
If any of the samples contain the virus, it sits down. "
"In approximately a month and a half", dogs with prior training
"can be trained to detect this disease,"
remarked the manager, to point out that "it is better to work with
dogs
already used to search tasks" because "it is easier than identify one more smell than starting from scratch. "
The Councilor for
Multiple Services, José Luis García,
expressed his satisfaction with the reception that the initiative had among his neighbors, who from the first hour came to the Day Center to submit to the scrutiny of the two dogs.
"They have passed in groups of 10 and the flow has been constant except for a small interval starting at 17:30," added the mayor, who did not hide his admiration for the reliability of
Dolce
and
Angus:
"They have put a sample taken two inhabitants that we knew have contracted the virus and have been marked immediately. "
Among the 250 people who have participated in this canine test, five have tested positive.
In the case of two of them, the diagnosis has been confirmed with an antigen test;
while a third was awaiting the results of a PCR.
The remaining two have tested negative in the counternalysis despite the fact that the two dogs have marked them safely, "but from the Torrecárdenas hospital they have explained to us that it may be that the antigen test has not detected the virus because the load is very small as the disease can be found in an initial or final stage ".
The manager of the Opcon Seguridad group pointed out that, "in addition to Spain, other countries such as Finland, France, Belgium, Chile or Brazil are also developing studies for the training of coronavirus detection dogs."
"In our case,
we already have three validated dogs and we hope that in the coming weeks we will expand the number by eight more."
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Brazil
Belgium
Chile
Jaen
France
Finland
Spain
Pandemic Chaos due to the lack of a European plan against the English strain
HealthSpain registers 25,886 new cases of coronavirus and the cumulative incidence drops to 400 for the first time in a month
MacroeconomicsLeón loses the candidacy of the European Cybersecurity Center
See links of interest
Check Christmas Lottery 2020
Lottery 2020
The Fat Christmas
Elche - Osasuna
Valencia CF - Seville
Zenit Saint Petersburg - Red Star
Anadolu Efes Istanbul - Barça
Huesca - Levante