Ep. 112: Il migliore amico dell'uomo può aiutare a combattere il nuovo coronavirus?

Police and firefighter dog handlers wearing protective face masks and gloves trains dogs to detect person infected by the Coronavirus Covid-19.

Police and firefighter dog handlers wearing protective face masks and gloves trains dogs to detect person infected by the Coronavirus Covid-19. Source: ABACA

I ricercatori di tutto il mondo stanno studiando se i cani possono essere utilizzati nella lotta contro il COVID-19. Stanno cercando di scoprire se i cani possono essere addestrati a fiutare il nuovo coronavirus nelle persone.


Italian

Alcune istituzioni in tutto il mondo stanno studiando se il miglior amico dell'uomo possa aiutare nella lotta contro il nuovo coronavirus.

Sei cani dell'ente di beneficenza Medical Detection Dogs potrebbero presto essere addestrati per rilevare se qualcuno abbia il COVID-19 e svolgere un ruolo vitale nel prevenire l'ulteriore diffusione della pandemia in futuro.

I team della London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine e della Durham University affermano che i cani sono pronti per essere selezionati per lavorare al progetto e il loro naso potrebbe captare l'odore della malattia fra appena sei-otto settimane.

L'obiettivo è che l'organizzazione di beneficenza formi intensivamente i cani che superano la selezione per contribuire a fornire una diagnosi rapida e non invasiva per porre fine all'epidemia.

Il dottor James Logan è della London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

"It builds on years of research we've already done as a team to demonstrate that people who have a malaria infection have a distinctive body odour and we've shown that dogs can be trained to detect that with very high levels of accuracy, so if this is successful and we show the same for COVID-19 this could completely revolutionise the way that we are tackling this disease."

Lavorerà in collaborazione con il professor Steve Lindsay, un entomologo per la salute pubblica e professore presso il Dipartimento di Bioscienze dell'Università di Durham.

"As we begin to beat down this epidemic and the numbers become very low, one of the important things is to prevent new infections coming into the country re-establishing so in order to get the economy going again we've got to open up our airports and we think dogs can play a really great role here, if we show that they can discriminate with high accuracy, whether people have COVID-19 or not. So the basic idea is that we could screen travellers innocently coming into this country who may be carrying COVID-19, detect those people and isolate them."

Appena fuori Parigi sono in corso esperimenti simili.

I ricercatori della Scuola Nazionale di Veterinaria francese stanno studiando se i loro cani da ricerca e salvataggio, che fino ad ora sono stati addestrati a lavorare con i vigili del fuoco francesi, possano anche essere arruolati per aiutare nella ricerca di un sistema per affrontare il COVID-19.

I loro pastori belgi sono di solito usati per cercare persone in caso di incendi o calamità naturali e alcuni sono addestrati per fiutare droghe ed esplosivi.

Non è dimostrato se possano essere addestrati a fiutare il COVID-19.

Il team di laboratorio sta collaborando con altre squadre in Belgio, Corsica, Libano e presto in Brasile.

Il lavoro a Parigi è ancora diverso da quello che si sta svolgendo negli Stati Uniti presso il Working Dog Center di Penn Vet.

La direttrice del centro, la dottoressa Cynthia Otto, afferma che i cani hanno la capacità di rilevare bassi livelli di composti organici associati a malattie come il cancro alle ovaie e le infezioni batteriche.

Questi composti si trovano nel sangue, nella saliva, nelle urine e nel fiato.

La dottoressa Otto ritiene che i cani e il loro naso estremamente sensibile possano fare lo stesso con il nuovo coronavirus.

Per mettere alla prova la teoria, i ricercatori del Penn stanno per far partire uno studio con otto labrador retriever.

Nel corso di diverse settimane, i cani saranno esposti a coronavirus inattivato presente nella saliva e nelle urine.

Resta da vedere se questi studi molto limitati possano portare a qualcosa di concreto.

I ricercatori negli Stati Uniti ritengono che l'esperimento abbia applicazioni pratiche quali aiutare a sviluppare un naso elettronico.

La dottoressa Otto afferma che una limitazione è la disponibilità di cani che possono svolgere questo tipo di lavoro.

Ci vuole un tipo speciale di cani per partecipare al lavoro di laboratorio.

Non solo devono avere le giuste competenze, ma anche una personalità che consenta loro di concentrarsi per lunghi periodi di tempo.

Il dottor Nathan Hall, direttore del Canine Olfaction Lab presso la Texas Tech University, concorda che lo studio ha il potenziale per stabilire se i cani siano in grado di rilevare il virus.

Ma mette in guardia contro eccessive aspettative.

"While I wouldn't be surprised if dogs proved to be quite capable at it, I also wouldn't be surprised if they proved not particularly capable at it. So it's one of things where it's a great research question, right? Because it could go either way. So you don't know, so that's where really diving into figuring out what's going on is quite fruitful."

English

A number of institutions around the world are looking at whether man's best friend can help in the effort against the new coronavirus.

Six dogs from the charity Medical Detection Dogs could soon be trained to detect if someone has COVID-19 and play a vital role in preventing further spread of the pandemic in future.
 
Teams at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Durham University  say the dogs are ready to be assessed to work on the project, and their noses could pick up the scent of the disease in as little as six to eight weeks.
 
The aim is for the charity to intensively train the dogs that do pass the assessment, to help provide a rapid, non-invasive diagnosis towards the end of the epidemic.
 
Dr. James Logan is from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
 
"It builds on years of research we've already done as a team to demonstrate that people who have a malaria infection have a distinctive body odour and we've shown that dogs can be trained to detect that with very high levels of accuracy, so if this is successful and we show the same for COVID-19 this could completely revolutionise the way that we are tackling this disease."
 
He'll be working in collaboration with Professor Steve Lindsay, a public health entomologist, and Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University.

"As we begin to beat down this epidemic and the numbers become very low, one of the important things is to prevent new infections coming into the country re-establishing so in order to get the economy going again we've got to open up our airports and we think dogs can play a really great role here, if we show that they can discriminate with high accuracy, whether people have COVID-19 or not. So the basic idea is that we could screen travellers innocently coming into this country who may be carrying COVID-19, detect those people and isolate them."
 
Just outside Paris similar experiments are underway.
 
Researchers at France's National Veterinary College are investigating whether their search and rescue dogs, which until now have been trained to work with French firefighters, can also be enlisted to help in the search for a way to tackle COVID-19.
 
Their Belgian Shepherd dogs are usually used to search for people in fires, or natural disasters, and some are trained to sniff out drugs and explosives.
 
Whether they can be trained to sniff out COVID-19 isn't proven.
 
The laboratory team is collaborating with other teams in Belgium, Corsica, Lebanon and soon Brazil.
 
The work in Paris is different again to what is happening in the United States at Penn Vet's Working Dog Centre.
 
The centre's director, Doctor Cynthia Otto, says dogs have the ability to detect low levels of organic compounds associated with diseases such as ovarian cancer and bacterial infections.
 
These compounds are found in blood, saliva, urine and breath.
 
Dr Otto believes dogs and their extremely sensitive noses might be able to do the same with the new coronavirus.
 
To test the theory, Penn researchers are launching a study with eight Labrador retrievers.
 
Over the course of several weeks, the dogs will be exposed to inactivated coronavirus present in saliva and urine.
 
Whether these very small studies can ever lead to anything consequential remains to be seen.
 
Researchers in the US believe the experiment does have practical applications such as helping to develop an electronic nose.
 
Dr Otto says one limitation is the availability of dogs that can do this sort of work.
 
It takes a special type of dog to participate in the lab work.
 
They not only need to have the right skill set, but a personality that allows them to focus for extended periods of time.
 
Dr. Nathan Hall, Director of the Canine Olfaction Lab at Texas Tech University, agrees the study has the potential to establish that dogs will be able to detect the virus.
 
But he cautions against greater expectations.
 
"While I wouldn't be surprised if dogs proved to be quite capable at it, I also wouldn't be surprised if they proved not particularly capable at it. So it's one of things where it's a great research question, right? Because it could go either way. So you don't know, so that's where really diving into figuring out what's going on is quite fruitful."

Report by Nicola Canning 

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