With specially trained sniffer dogs, Hessen wants to research new ways of detecting corona infections at an early stage.

In an interdisciplinary study, in which the University Medical Center Mainz, the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences and also financially the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs are involved, the focus is on Hessian nursing homes, as announced by Minister of Social Affairs Kai Klose (Die Grünen).

Monica Ganster

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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During the corona pandemic, there were several outbreaks in homes, which resulted in long quarantine periods for the residents or the closure of the entire facility.

Breaking the chain of infection as early as possible is crucial, said Klose.

In the Nassauische Blindenfürsorge home in Wiesbaden, the study team took the first samples for test purposes, although there is currently no outbreak there.

The candidates submit several skin swabs and a nasopharyngeal swab for PCR testing.

A swab is then presented to a sniffer dog outside the building.

A second skin swab is examined in a laboratory at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences for specific odor information.

The PCR tests are evaluated by the virology department of the University Medicine in Mainz.

The first results of the study are expected in the fall, said study leader Petra Staubach-Renz.

After that, a decision will be made on the further establishment of the procedure.

Several months of training for dogs necessary

Dog handler Daniel Jannett presents the excellent nose of his tracker dog Drago on a training machine: a simple, low metal box, about 1.20 meters wide, with a sloping top plate with seven holes.

As soon as Jannett points to the first opening with a big arm gesture, the four-year-old German shepherd mix starts snooping.

Now it becomes clear that the holes are just big enough for the dog's snout: If Drago finds something, he smells a second longer, triggering a light barrier in the opening and a signal tone tells Jannett that he has found something positive.

The dog has been trained to use the device and is currently ignoring people, explains Jannett.

However, the training, which lasted several months, still had to be modified before Drago could discover an infection directly on a passer-by.

The long-term hope, however, is that an animal can “smell out” the infected in groups of people, for example.

The dog smells the body's response to the infection

Christopher Becher, Managing Director of the Institute for Security Research at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, specifies that what the dog sniffs out are not corona viruses.

His employees are the odor experts in the interdisciplinary study team.

Up to 100 different odorous substances could be distinguished in humans, which can be composed differently depending on diet, gender and health.

"We try to find out what exactly the dog smells in this big chemical noise, as we call it." It's the body's reaction to the infection, so to speak.

Bodo Plachter, Acting Director of the Institute for Virology at the University Medical Center Mainz, also emphasizes that the animal nose recognizes very fine adjustments.

The dogs would already respond to samples from people who had just become infected.

On the other hand, rapid tests would often fail if the viral load was still low, says Plachter.

It is hoped that the sniffer dogs could then quickly and, above all, more reliably than rapid tests indicate an outbreak.

They are to be used in homes where the first positive tests have been noticed.

The project is currently stalling a little because there is a lack of positive material, reports Plachter.

On the other hand, the previously effective protection of clinics and homes, in which the hygiene regulations are still strictly observed, provides too little practice material for the study.