RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Detection dogs as a help in the detection of COVID-19 Can the dog alert on COVID-19 positive persons by sniffing axillary sweat samples ? Proof-of-concept study JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.06.03.132134 DO 10.1101/2020.06.03.132134 A1 Grandjean, Dominique A1 Sarkis, Riad A1 Tourtier, Jean-Pierre A1 Julien-Lecocq, Clothilde A1 Benard, Aymeric A1 Roger, Vinciane A1 Levesque, Eric A1 Bernes-Luciani, Eric A1 Maestracci, Bruno A1 Morvan, Pascal A1 Gully, Eric A1 Berceau-Falancourt, David A1 Pesce, Jean-Luc A1 Lecomte, Bernard A1 Haufstater, Pierre A1 Herin, Gregory A1 Cabrera, Joaquin A1 Muzzin, Quentin A1 Gallet, Capucine A1 Bacqué, Hélène A1 Broc, Jean-Marie A1 Thomas, Leo A1 Lichaa, Anthony A1 Moujaes, Georges A1 Saliba, Michele A1 Kuhn, Aurore A1 Galey, Mathilde A1 Berthail, Benoit A1 Lapeyre, Lucien A1 Méreau, Olivier A1 Matteï, Marie-Nicolas A1 Foata, Audrey A1 Bey, Louisa A1 Philippe, Anne-Sophie A1 Abassi, Paul A1 Pisani, Ferri A1 Delarbre, Marlène A1 Orsini, Jean-Marc A1 Capelli, Anthoni A1 Renault, Steevens A1 Bachir, Karim A1 Kovinger, Anthony A1 Comas, Eric A1 Stainmesse, Aymeric A1 Etienne, Erwan A1 Voeltzel, Sébastien A1 Mansouri, Sofiane A1 Berceau-Falancourt, Marlène A1 Leva, Brice A1 Faure, Frederic A1 Dami, Aimé A1 Costa, Marc Antoine A1 Tafanelli, Jean-Jacques A1 Luciani, Jean-Benoit A1 Casalot, Jean-Jacques A1 Charlet, Lary A1 Ruau, Eric A1 Issa, Mario A1 Grenet, Carine A1 Billy, Christophe A1 Desquilbet, Loic YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/06/05/2020.06.03.132134.abstract AB The aim of this study is to evaluate if the sweat produced by COVID-19 persons (SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive) has a different odour for trained detection dogs than the sweat produced by non COVID-19 persons. The study was conducted on 3 sites, following the same protocol procedures, and involved a total of 18 dogs. A total of 198 armpits sweat samples were obtained from different hospitals. For each involved dog, the acquisition of the specific odour of COVID-19 sweat samples required from one to four hours, with an amount of positive samples sniffing ranging from four to ten. For this proof of concept, we kept 8 dogs of the initial group (explosive detection dogs and colon cancer detection dogs), who performed a total of 368 trials, and will include the other dogs in our future studies as their adaptation to samples scenting takes more time.The percentages of success of the dogs to find the positive sample in a line containing several other negative samples or mocks (2 to 6) were 100p100 for 4 dogs, and respectively 83p100, 84p100, 90p100 and 94p100 for the others, all significantly different from the percentage of success that would be obtained by chance alone.We conclude that there is a very high evidence that the armpits sweat odour of COVID-19+ persons is different, and that dogs can detect a person infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.