The 'covid dogs': a pioneering project
finance , the company responsible for maintaining and developing the Finnish airport network, has incorporated into its staff at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport the "covid-19 dogs", among which are Miina, Kössi, E.T and Valo.
Is about a pilot project involving ten dogs and their trainers with which it is expected that the identification process of passengers infected by covid-19 will be accelerated thanks to the sense of smell of the animals.
According to preliminary tests carried out by a research group at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Helsinki, dogs can detect the virus with almost 100% certainty.
A PIONEER PROJECT
They are confident that dogs will be an effective method of ensuring health and safety at airports: “We are among the pioneers. To our knowledge, no other airport has attempted to use detection dogs on such a large scale against covid-19. We are satisfied with Vantaa's initiative. This could be an additional step on the way to defeating covid-19”, he comments. Ulla Lettijeff, airport manager at Finavia.
Detection of covid-19 is easy for dogs and the results have been encouraging. Also, they can identify the virus days before symptoms begin, which laboratory tests cannot.
Dogs can also identify covid-19 from a much smaller sample than the PCR tests used by health professionals. The difference is enormous, since a dog only needs 10 to 100 molecules to identify the virus, while the test kit requires 18,000,000.
HOW WILL IT BE CARRIED OUT?
Wise Nose is the company responsible for training covid-19 dogs. Thus, the Nose Academy has been created, which directs the operation at the Helsinki airport.
"We are working with Finnish customs to prepare for a potential scenario where we take over the operation" , He says Susanna Paavilainen , CEO of Suomen hajuerottelu - WiseNose Ry, the DogRisk research group at the University of Helsinki.
In the future, the customs dogs could replace the current operatives. Nevertheless, official covid-19 tests with trained dogs can only start once the corresponding legislative amendment has been approved.
Take a covid-19 dog test at Helsinki airport will not include direct contact with the dog, instead, the animal will perform its work in a separate cabin. Passengers undergoing the canine test gauze will be passed over the skin and deposited in a container, which will then be given to the dog. This also protects the handler of the dog from possible infections.
All tests are processed anonymously, are voluntary and if the test result is positive, the passenger will be directed to a Vantaa city health information point located at the airport.
The test is voluntary, anonymous and does not involve direct contact with the dog
THE CANINE TEAM
The dogs will work at the airport in shifts, the length of which will depend on the dogs themselves. Four dogs will participate in each shift and a total of ten have been trained.
“Dogs need to rest from time to time. While two dogs are working, the other two are on a break. The service is mainly intended for passengers arriving from outside the country, ”explains Paavilainen.
Almost all dogs have detected scents before, and the time it takes to learn to identify covid-19 depends on the dog's history. For example, Kössi, an eight-year-old greyhound cross, learned to identify the scent in just seven minutes.
“Not all dogs can do it as they operate in different ways. Kössi has a lot of experience in the identification of biological samples”, concludes Paavilainen.
If the pilot project gives satisfactory results, we could be facing a breakthrough in detecting the virus.
Miina, Kössi, E.T and Valo are some of the four-legged members of the team