Bobby, Bravo and Angel, left to right, with their handlers at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Angel was a good girl, and when she sat, furry hindquarters sliding a little on the tile floor, she raised a paw for emphasis, as if to say, it’s this cotton ball that my keen nose has identified, the one that smells like COVID-19.
Sniffer dogs work faster and far more cheaply than polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, testing, their proponents say. An intake of air through their sensitive snouts is enough to identify within a second the volatile organic compound or mixture of compounds that are produced when a person with COVID-19 sheds damaged cells, researchers say.
On rare occasions, pet cats and dogs in close contact with infected humans have tested positive for the virus, as have populations of minks and other mammals. Labradors are among the smartest breeds, said Lertchai Chaumrattanakul, who leads Chevron’s part of the dog project. They are affable, too, making them the ideal doggy detector: engaged and eager.
For a couple hours in the morning and afternoon, the retrievers take turns obligingly pacing up and down a room set up with metal arms that dangle sweat samples. Walking past, they sniff-snuffle up to 10 times a second, as dogs are wont to do. “Their lives are good, better than many humans,” said Thawatchai Promchot, Angel’s handler, who worked as a Chevron supplier before diverting into animal health screening.