Lebanese doctor’s drive to curb COVID-19 with sniffer dogs

Lebanese doctor’s drive to curb COVID-19 with sniffer dogs

Lebanese doctor Riad Sarkis says he can help curb COVID-19 globally. As he speaks inside Beirut airport, one of his secret weapons is wagging its tail next to him.

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Specifically trained sniffer dogs can detect Covid in a person in a few seconds, including in very early stages when a PCR test would yield a negative result.

"Man's best friend“ doesn't even begin to describe how Dr Sarkis views dogs, which he argues can save more human lives than ever before by stopping the spread of the pandemic.

"The day we build a machine with an electronic nose that amplifies smells 10,000 times, then we can replace the dogs. For now, we need them,“ Sarkis says.

The effusive professor, who splits his time and work between France and Lebanon, has temporarily sidelined his passions for music and poetry to stay on a war footing against the pandemic that has brought the world to a standstill.

A digestive system surgery professor and oncologist, Sarkis had spent 12 years researching how dogs could help detect cancer and increase chances of early treatment.

"When COVID appeared, I thought why not try. And it worked,“ he recounts.

Almost infallible

Research was conducted with France's