Scientists are training bees to detect samples with COVID-19

Dutch scientists trained bees, Who have an unusually strong sense of smell, to identify infected specimens Covid-19– The result they say can reduce the waiting time for test results to a few seconds.

To train Bees, The Scholars From the Veterinary Research Laboratory Wageningen University They were given sugar water as a reward after submitting samples infected with COVID-19. They did not receive any reward for an uninfected specimen.

Once the bees became accustomed to the system, they were able to automatically extend their tongues for a reward when presented with an infected specimen. Covid-19Wim van der Paul, a professor of virology who was involved in the project, said.

“We collect natural bees from beekeepers and put them in belts,” he explained. “Immediately after submitting a positive sample, we also give them sugar water. What the bees do is extend their hose to take the sugar water.”

The researchers argue that the fact that the bees extend their tongue to drink is a confirmation of a positive test result Covid-19.

Test result Covid-19 It may take hours or days, but the bee response is immediate. Plus, the method is cheap, which makes it likely useful for countries where testing is scarce, they said.

The University of Helsinki, Finland, has started a test dogs training They can recognize it by their scent COVID-19.

A few weeks later, the scientists in charge of the study were surprised by the dogs’ success in differentiating urine samples from infected patients.

“We have strong experience training disease-related smell detection dogs. It was great to see how quickly dogs discover the new scent,” said Anna Helm Bjorkman, Director of DogRisk Group.

Also in Germany, rooster spaniel dogs have been trained to detect COVID-19 in human saliva samples with an accuracy of 94%.

“Dogs are trained to detect the smell of the aura that comes from the cells of infected people,” said Esther Schalke, a veterinarian at the German Military Service Dog School.

Filo, a three-year-old Belgian shepherd, and Joe Coker, a one-year-old cocker spaniel, They are two dogs that were trained at the Hannover University of Veterinary Medicine.

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