Month: September 2020

Breakthrough Not To Be Sniffed At

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Further progress is being made that may enable the world to return to some semblance of normality as sniffer dogs trained to alert on the SARS-Cov-2 virus work at Helsinki airport.

The dogs do not make direct contact with travellers but alert on wipes that have been used to swab their neck. The dogs take about 10 seconds to work their way through the scent options and travellers who’s sample is deemed positive are invited to take a free test.

Accuracy is extremely high. A pilot study showed that dogs alerted 94% correctly when presented with 1,102 random samples. They are also able to make accurate detection in people who are asymptomatic.

Of course, it is only properly regulated follow-up that will make this a game-changer for global travel, but once again, dogs really are man’s best friend.

Man Bites Dog

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lightning bolt Fatal dog attacks are very rare; they are also preventable. Three people died in the UK in 2019 as a result of an incident involving a dog, two more than in 2018. That is similar to the number of people killed by lightening in the UK.

Just as there are many precautions that can be taken to avoid being struck by lightening, there are many ways that the latest fatal dog attack should have been avoided.

Many people underestimate how much work is involved in rearing a puppy and trying to do so whilst dealing with a newborn baby (or indeed older children) at best leads to a lot of dogs being neglected and then re-homed and in the case of yesterday’s incident, the probable death of a dog through no fault of its own.

Again, we are unlikely to know exactly how this dog had been reared and handled, but it is not hard to guess, and yet again, the headlines will be forgotten and lessons unlearned until the next dog pays the price.