WEBVTT - A Canine Virus Detection System

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome the prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day two since

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<v Speaker 1>coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Our main story. Dogs

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<v Speaker 1>may hold a key to one raveling some of the

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<v Speaker 1>mysteries about the virus. The reason lies in their noses.

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<v Speaker 1>But first, here's what happened today. For the first time

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<v Speaker 1>in months, the most important story in the US is

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<v Speaker 1>not the vicious spread of COVID nineteen through the population. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>days of protests have rocked the country and some cities

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<v Speaker 1>around the world in response to the death of George Floyd.

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<v Speaker 1>Floyd's is the latest in a series of killings of

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<v Speaker 1>black men and women at the hands of police. While

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<v Speaker 1>the protests have been mostly peaceful, some participants have broken

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<v Speaker 1>store windows and set buildings and cars on fire. The

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<v Speaker 1>police in many cities have also acted with force, driving

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<v Speaker 1>vehicles into crowds, firing rubber bullets at protesters, and arresting journalists.

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<v Speaker 1>The virus may not have been the spark for the protests,

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<v Speaker 1>but it has helped create the conditions that have made

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<v Speaker 1>them so volatile. Unemployment has reached levels not seen since

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<v Speaker 1>the Great Depression. The disease caused by the virus has

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<v Speaker 1>killed over one hundred thousand and disproportionately affected the black community,

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<v Speaker 1>and as the country limps towards reopening, fears about getting

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<v Speaker 1>sick and economic insecurity hang in the air to make

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<v Speaker 1>things worse. Health experts are worried that the large gatherings

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<v Speaker 1>could cause a spike of new infections. Silent carriers of

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<v Speaker 1>the virus could unwittingly infect others as protesters crammed together,

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<v Speaker 1>some without masks. Police in many cities have fired tear

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<v Speaker 1>gas of protesters, which causes widespread coughing. The virus is

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<v Speaker 1>dispersed by microscopic droplets in the air when people cough, sneeze, sing,

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<v Speaker 1>or talk. And now our main story. Dogs have long

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<v Speaker 1>had a positive link with human health. Science has shown

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<v Speaker 1>that the benefits of dog ownership extend from reducing the

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<v Speaker 1>risk of schizophrenia to improving cardiovascular health. But in the

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<v Speaker 1>era of coronavirus, they have other, as yet untapped powers

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<v Speaker 1>to help stop the spread of the virus. Bloomberg Senior

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<v Speaker 1>editor Jason Gale has more. This is Merlin. He's a

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<v Speaker 1>six year old Labrador who trained to be a guide dog,

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<v Speaker 1>but he didn't make the cut. He got distracted by

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<v Speaker 1>his powerful sense of smell, mostly of edible things. Stopping

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<v Speaker 1>Merlin stealing food is a full time job for my kids.

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<v Speaker 1>But what if there was a way of channeling that

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<v Speaker 1>potent sense of smell to get dogs to sniff out

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<v Speaker 1>the coronavirus. Turns out there is. Researchers in Helsinki and

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<v Speaker 1>London are separately training dogs to detect the coronavirus, and

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<v Speaker 1>when you think about it, it's not such a stretch.

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<v Speaker 1>For years, dogs have been routinely used in airports to

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<v Speaker 1>sniff out explosives, drugs and clandestine food. They have also

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<v Speaker 1>been used to detect cancer and toxic mold. At the

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<v Speaker 1>London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Professor James Logan

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<v Speaker 1>has worked with dogs to find malaria. When you have

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<v Speaker 1>an infection and your body order, the smells coming from

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<v Speaker 1>your body change, which is detectable by mosquitoes. So mosquitoes

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<v Speaker 1>find you more attractive when you have a malaria infection,

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<v Speaker 1>and we wondered whether dogs could do the same. So

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<v Speaker 1>we did a study to see whether dogs were able

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<v Speaker 1>to pick up on this smell. And the amazing thing

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<v Speaker 1>about dogs is they've got an incredible sense of smell.

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<v Speaker 1>We've got a very very sensitive nose, but they are

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<v Speaker 1>also able to learn and they can learn smells. James says,

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<v Speaker 1>the dogs are highly effective at identifying people with malaria,

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<v Speaker 1>even those people who aren't displaying any signs of the disease.

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<v Speaker 1>It's opened up a new line of research investigating the

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<v Speaker 1>potential to train cardres of corona catching canines. So we

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<v Speaker 1>know that diseases have orders. We know this. We know

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<v Speaker 1>that respiratory type diseases like influenza, for example, also have

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<v Speaker 1>orders and they're quite things. So um, there is a

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<v Speaker 1>very very good chance that COVID ninety also has a

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<v Speaker 1>distinctive order. And if it does, then I am really

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<v Speaker 1>confident that the dogs would be able to learn that

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<v Speaker 1>smell and detected. In Finland and doctor Anna hum Yorkman

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<v Speaker 1>is a senior researcher in the Department of Equine and

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<v Speaker 1>Small Animal Medicine at the University of Helsinki. She's worked

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<v Speaker 1>with dogs for years and when the pandemic started, it's

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<v Speaker 1>saying natural to test out their smelling pross and we

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<v Speaker 1>were fortunate or unfortunate to have a lot of people

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<v Speaker 1>who had corona in in kind of of our near

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<v Speaker 1>family and friends, so we got a lot of samples

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<v Speaker 1>that we were able to pilot with, and in this

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<v Speaker 1>pilot we could see that the dogs actually had no

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<v Speaker 1>trouble at all uh finding the virus, so they were

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<v Speaker 1>I thought it was actually kind of a an easy

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<v Speaker 1>smell compared to to the different type of cancer as

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<v Speaker 1>they've been smelling before. To be clear, Anna wasn't using

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<v Speaker 1>any old MutS for this experiment. The two dogs she

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<v Speaker 1>put to the test were professional sniffers with proven all

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<v Speaker 1>factory skills. But there's another trait that Anna looks for

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<v Speaker 1>in a detected dog, a good appetite. The thing that

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<v Speaker 1>you you train them with is treats, and if they're

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<v Speaker 1>not very interested in food treats or other like play

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<v Speaker 1>or something like that, it's very hard to get them

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<v Speaker 1>to learn anything. So they don't actually have to be

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<v Speaker 1>a certain breed or a certain age or a certain sex.

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<v Speaker 1>It's mostly these two things that are important. When the

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<v Speaker 1>dogs were put to the test, they detect did the

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<v Speaker 1>coronavirus in two people who had tested negative for COVID,

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<v Speaker 1>and it says she wondered whether it was too big

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<v Speaker 1>a challenge for the poachers, but she gave them the

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<v Speaker 1>benefit of the town. We first thought that, okay, that

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<v Speaker 1>this is maybe not so so easy for the dogs

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<v Speaker 1>because they kind of were not on the They didn't

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<v Speaker 1>have the same opinion about the samples as did the

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<v Speaker 1>tests that had been taken. And since we've been working

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<v Speaker 1>with dogs for for five years, just with biological samples,

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<v Speaker 1>we know that mostly they're rights and we're wrong. So

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<v Speaker 1>An and the colleagues asked those two people to get retested,

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<v Speaker 1>and actually both of them had developed the corona as

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<v Speaker 1>a disease in the meanwhile. So one of them was

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<v Speaker 1>four days tested before and one of them was five

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<v Speaker 1>days tested before, and the dog could smell them then

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<v Speaker 1>already before before kind of the clinical disease erupted in

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<v Speaker 1>the people. Anna is doing more research to verify and

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<v Speaker 1>validate these initial findings. She says more work is needed

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<v Speaker 1>to clarify what the dogs are identifying in patient samples

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<v Speaker 1>and how long the smell stays after the infection has passed,

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<v Speaker 1>but she's hoping to publish the results in a scientific journal,

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<v Speaker 1>and like James Logan in London, she's optimistic about what

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<v Speaker 1>dogs could bring to the COVID screening table given their

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<v Speaker 1>proven utility across the number of areas. We have about

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<v Speaker 1>thirty different kind of professions that dogs do. We have

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<v Speaker 1>dogs that are are alarming for for cancer, for epilepsy,

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<v Speaker 1>for chronic pain, for diabetes patients. We've got dogs that

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<v Speaker 1>are are trained to look for explosives and drugs and

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<v Speaker 1>money and whatnot. So so it's actually not far fetched

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<v Speaker 1>dogs can can do this. So just having a dog

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<v Speaker 1>standing by the customs when when people come into countries,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, they can scan up to one human beings

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<v Speaker 1>an hour. So that's a totally other scale of potential

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<v Speaker 1>that that we're we're seeing in kind of testing people.

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<v Speaker 1>And also it's it's instantly with additional funding, and it

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<v Speaker 1>says it might be possible to train fifty dogs in

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<v Speaker 1>Finland to scout for people carrying the coronavirus, ready for

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<v Speaker 1>when cooler weather later in the year risks bringing a

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<v Speaker 1>new wave of infections. James Logan says it takes about

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<v Speaker 1>four to six weeks to train a dog to seek

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<v Speaker 1>out a new smell. He's hoping to have dogs ready

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<v Speaker 1>to deploy in two to three months for the cost

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<v Speaker 1>of a treat. Recruiting man's best friend to help screen

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<v Speaker 1>for COVID makes a lot of sense, and anyone who

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<v Speaker 1>suffered the indignity of an eye watering swab way up

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<v Speaker 1>the nose can tell you being screened by a dog

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<v Speaker 1>can only be an improvement. That was Jason Gayle in Melbourne,

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<v Speaker 1>And that's our show today. For coverage of the outbreak

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<v Speaker 1>from one and twenty bureaus around the world, visit bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>dot com Flash Coronavirus and if you like the show,

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<v Speaker 1>please leave us a review and a rating on Apple

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<v Speaker 1>Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more

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<v Speaker 1>listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by tophor Forehaz, Jordan Gospore, Magnus Hendrickson and me

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<v Speaker 1>Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Jason Gaal,

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<v Speaker 1>Francis Schwartzkoff and fergos O Sullivan. Special thanks to Arabella Gayle,

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<v Speaker 1>Georgie Gayle and their great pup Merlin. Original music by

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<v Speaker 1>Leo Sidron. Our editors are Francesco Levi and Rick Shawn.

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<v Speaker 1>Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of Podcasts. Thanks for listening.