In the latest chapter of their continuing mission to fight SARS-COV2, Bio Detection K9 (BDK9) announced that throughout the month of February all canines assigned to the company’s COVID-19 detection program will be receiving updated training. Bio Detection K9 is the leader in canine COVID-19 detection worldwide and this training program, which will ensure that the dogs can accurately detect the now-dominant Omicron strain, will last at least 30 days. To simulate real world conditions, human test subjects will be involved.
During this training exercise, the company intends to obtain hard evidence that their trained canine team is capable of detecting the SARS-COV2 Omicron variant with the same high levels of accuracy (greater than 97%) observed for other COVID variants. The Omicron strain is currently responsible for 95% of all new COVID-19 infections in the United States.
The Omicron variant is the most divergent variant to date. The mutations in the Omicron variant should not change the scent profile of the viral particles significantly, but the changes have definitely altered the biology of the virus. The retesting and retraining efforts are necessary to make sure that the Bio Detection COVID detector canines recognize the scent of the Omicron variant, but also to determine if the search protocols used by Bio Detection still work. Dr. William Schneider, BDK9’s Chief Research Scientist, will be conducting a rigorous study to confirm this.
Employing proprietary technology, he will synthesize a harmless training aid based on the Omicron strain and train the dogs to recognize the scent. The goal is to assure that the dogs detect the Omicron variant with 97-99% accuracy – a level of accuracy that matches the results of previous Beta, Gamma and Delta strain trials. Then, the Omicron trained dogs will screen a number of human volunteers to check the effectiveness of the search protocols.
By simply sniffing a person’s hand, a Bio Detection dog’s sensitive nostrils can identify the presence of COVID-19 virus shed through the skin within a matter of seconds. This new detection technique provides an additional layer of screening, thereby enhancing the efficacy of safety measures against COVID-19 and other dangerous pathogens.
“When they graduate from this updated training program, these Bio Detection canines should be equally effective at identifying a range of COVID-19 strains,” commented Jerry Johnson, BDK9 President. “That said, we will continue to assess the situation as new variants arise. By doing so, we can offer our clients the utmost assurance that our unique, technology-augmented canine screening service is cost-effective, accurate and reliable.”