An innovative pilot will test the possibility of training the unit's dogs by identifying the sense of smell Carriers of the virus • In the past it has been shown that dogs have been able to smell diseases such as cancer and malaria

• 'Sting' dogs will detect corona patients by smelling? // Photo: Yossi Zeliger

Are going on four harnesses to fight the Corona virus? An interesting new pilot of the MFAA (Defense Intelligence Development and Technology Infrastructure Administration) in the Ministry of Defense, in collaboration with the veteran IDF dog unit "Sting", will try to bring an effective and original solution to the problem of several corona tests and their availability to the general public.

The pilot seeks to test the training of "sting" unit dogs, trained to identify terrorists and explosives, so that they can identify with their olfactory sense of corona.

Studies have shown in recent years that dogs are able to detect through the olfactory system human diseases such as influenza, cancer and malaria. As part of the experiment, coronary saliva bite dogs will be served to sting dogs and are supposed to detect them and wag their tail.

This is not the first time the idea has come to use dogs to identify corona disease. According to a BBC report a few days ago, a British nonprofit that trains dogs to detect various diseases through their sense of smell - will also try to do the same against the virus that has erupted worldwide.

The association aims to create a joint venture with British universities to see if there is a way to teach the dogs about the different ways to identify the virus. This is in part because dogs can detect skin temperature changes before symptoms appear, the association claims.

"We must look into how to safely capture the odor of the virus coming from the carriers," the head of the association told BBC. "In principle, we are not sure there is a way to do this, but if we succeed, it will be a fast, effective and non-invasive way of diagnosis, in a way that will allow the healthcare system to use its limited resources where it is needed."

According to an expert at Durham University in the UK, an effective set of dogs that will detect the virus will effectively enable the kingdom to deal with a "second wave" of infections, including by placing them in airports to identify people before spreading the epidemic to other areas.