KUALA LUMPUR: More studies are needed before sniffer dogs could be used in detecting Covid-19 cases in the country.
Knine Dog Services Sdn Bhd managing director and certified professional dog trainer Dave Teoh said it is possible to train dogs to detect Covid-19 based on foreign research which found that dogs could detect the virus with an accuracy rate of more than 90 percent.
"It can be useful to have dogs to sniff out positive cases.
"Even when the country is transitioning towards the endemic phase and SOPs are relaxed, dogs could assist in detecting other types of diseases such as cancer and malaria," said Teoh, a record holder for being the youngest certified professional in Malaysia at the age of 12.
Teoh said he planned to approach the Health Ministry (KKM) to consider using dogs to detect not only Covid-19, but other types of viruses as well.
He said having dogs deployed to hospitals to specifically detect Covid-19 could save costs and time as they were able to detect many infected persons at one go, rather than having the individuals undergo the Covid-19 test separately.
"But before that can happen, we need more information on the consistency and accuracy of the research findings as everything is very new right now."
He said while German Shepherds are known as a good police sniffer dogs for drugs and rescue missions, different breeds should also be taken into consideration.
"People assume that the breed is the key for dogs to be good in various tasks. But not all dogs in the same breed will be selected and trained (to be sniffer dogs). It is important to teach them to focus on obedience," he said.
A study in Finland suggested the possibility of training dogs within weeks to detect Covid-19 infection with a degree of accuracy comparable to nose and throat swab test, while sniffer dogs in Thailand have also been trained to detect the virus in human sweats, with nearly 95 percent accuracy.