Research Tuesdays: Covid pawsitive . . .

Our most loyal companions could soon be among our most valuable frontline health workers.

Remarkably, specially trained dogs can now identify positive COVID-19 cases faster, earlier and more reliably than any rapid antigen test currently used worldwide.

Dr Anne-Lise Chaber is a senior lecturer in the University of Adelaide’s School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences.

“Specially trained dogs are able to sniff out and identify positive COVID-19 cases faster and earlier than PCR and more reliably than the rapid antigen tests currently used,” she said.

The University of Adelaide is leading this research in Australia, sharing results with collaborators spanning 22 countries.

“Specially trained dogs are able to sniff out and identify positive COVID-19 cases faster and earlier than PCR and more reliably than the rapid antigen tests currently used."Dr Anne-Lise Chaber, senior lecturer in the University of Adelaide’s School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences

“Dogs have a remarkable ability to home in on COVID-positive and their strike rate for sniffing out the virus is more than 97 per cent, even in symptom-free cases in controlled settings.”

The widespread use of the sniffer dogs as a rapid and mobile screening tool - at borders, events, and healthcare facilities - offers enormous potential benefits: more families and friends reunited, more businesses kept afloat, more lives saved.

In this exciting first Research Tuesdays presentation for 2022, people will find out how the training works, how the University is leading efforts to upscale global training capacity, and why this could be a pivotal moment in humanity’s broader fight against infectious disease.

The presenter:

Dr Chaber is a senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide’s School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences. She has more than 10 years’ experience as a field epidemiologist in England, Botswana and the UAE and has conducted research on the detection and transmission of multiple diseases, including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus at the wildlife-livestock-human interface.

WHAT:  Covid pawsitive
WHO:   Dr Anne-Lise Chaber
WHERE:  In person at the Braggs Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide, North Terrace campus.
Or register and watch the live Zoom webinar via the Research Tuesdays website
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/research/events/research-tuesdays
or watch the live stream via the Research Tuesdays Facebook page.

WHEN:  5.30–6.30 pm, Tuesday 8 March 2022

COST:  Free event

FURTHER INFO: https://www.facebook.com/researchtuesdays/