Data on real time PCR and K9 dogs for the assessment of COVID-19 infection in human population

This data record contains a single dataset, K9_COVID19 Anonymized Data 20.11.2020 - 1215.xlsx, in .xlsx file format.

The file contains the data output for two tests, K9 dogs and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.

Data are provided for the 884 human research participants included in the study. Each row in the data file includes a code, age, geographical origin (either African or Asian), result of the RT-PCR test for COVID-19 and result of the K9 test for COVID-19.

Research participant consent: Individuals participating in the study provided their written consent.

Study aims and methodology:

In January 2020, the coronavirus disease was declared, by the World Health Organization as a global public health emergency. Recent recommendations from the WHO COVID Emergency Committee continue to support strengthening COVID surveillance systems, including timely access to effective diagnostics. Questions were raised about the validity of considering the RT-PCR as the gold standard in COVID-19 diagosis3. It has been suggested that a variety of methods should be used to evaluate advocated tests. Dogs had been successfully trained and employed to detect diseases in humans.

The aims of this study are:

(1) To use the RT-PCR test as the gold standard to evaluate the ability of police detection dogs (K9 dogs) to screen for SARS-CoV-2 using axillary sweat samples and

(2) To compare the diagnostic accuracy of the K9 dog olfaction and the real-time PCR tests using Bayesian Latent Class Analysis.

Two types of samples were collected from different persons; one for training the dogs and the other was for the comparative studies.

Sweat samples (n=234) were collected from arm pits of COVID-19 patients using a sterile gauze pad at a hospital in Abu Dhabi, UAE. These patients showed respiratory manifestations and were identified by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as COVID-19 positive using nasal swabs. Negative control sweat samples (n=144) were collected from persons that did not show any recent respiratory manifestations and their nasal swabs tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR. A total of 884-arm pit sweat samples were collected from arm pits of individuals visiting the COVID-19 screening center in Mafraq Workers City, Abu Dhabi, UAE. The samples were subjected to screening using trained K9 dogs. Nasal swabs from the same individuals involved in the study were tested by SARS-CoV-2-RT-PCR protocol to identify COVID-19 positive and negative patients.

For more details on the methodology, including Bayesian Latent Class Analysis and statistical analysis, please refer to the related article.