Introduction
pneumonia, ’, infection, infected by SARS-CoV-2, RT‐PCR)Based
CORONAVIRUS, INFECTION, PNEUMONIA, SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME
In the past 2 years, great efforts have been made to contain the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Due to high contagiousness of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the resultant infection spread extremely fast and widely, provoking a sudden and substantial increase in hospitalisation of patients, due to pneumonia with multiorgan diseaseHowever, implementing conventional rapid diagnostic tests has common potential pitfalls, as sensitivity and specificity may be lower than established laboratory testing (i.e. RT‐PCR)Based on the assumption that, similarly to a variety of other pathologies, including viral infectionsThe results of studies published so far on the accuracy of canine smell in detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in biological samples (e.g., saliva, sweat, urine, trachea-bronchial secretions) from infected people suggest that sniffer dogs might reach percentages of sensitivity and specificity comparable to, or perhaps even higherGiven the previous considerations, once dogs’ ability to detect COVID-19 from biological samples of positive people has undergone laboratory validation, for sniffer dogs’ to be successful in contributing to the sustainable control of the COVID-19 pandemic, they should be brought beyond lab testing and into the field. Scientists suggest that dogs could help control the pandemic because they could screen hundreds of people per hour in crowded places, such as airports or sports stadiumsThe aims of the present study were to (1) assess reliability depending on sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) of purposely trained dogs to indicate an odour associated with COVID-19 in human armpit sweat through a double-blind laboratory test–retest design, and (2) test trained dogs’ screening ability to detect people infected by SARS-CoV-2 by sniffing them directly in public spaces, comparing a scent detection dog test and nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 RAD immunoassays. Community pharmacies and their incoming clients were chosen as settings for the screening in the field (aim 2) because, since Italian Cabinet of Ministers had declared a state of emergency on 31 January 2020