On Friday, the two-year-old dog “Boca” officially started his “job” of detecting infections with the Corona virus, in a home for the elderly in the Alsace region in eastern France, by smell.

“Boca” has previously dealt with Covid-19 diagnostic tests, as 85-year-old gardener Christoph Fritsch, who was infected with the Corona virus and resides in the “La Rosolière” house in Connheim, said: “There is no comparison … it is enough to press a small piece of cloth under the The armpit and then removed after five minutes .. As for the PCR examination, it is much more complicated.”

Christoph Fritsch stated that sweat samples are placed by hand gloves in sterile bags, which in turn are placed in boxes so that they do not absorb any other odors from the body, and the dog smells them one by one and sits when it detects a positive case, then a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is performed to confirm the result .

And what this trained dog actually monitors is the “Spike” protein, through which the virus enters the cells to spread in them, according to Alain Legrand, general manager of the “Handy Chien” Association, which specializes in training dogs to help people with disabilities, to which “Buka” belongs.

During experiments conducted last week in the nursing home on samples from the Strasbourg Hospital, Boca, a Golden Retriever, identified 100% of positive and negative cases, according to what doctor Pierre Cozier, who works in La Rosolier, tells of, indicating that it is really amazing.

DANS LA PRESSE – English #Alsace, Pokaa, premier chien “renifleur de #Coviden Ehpad.
▶️ https://t.co/RVUd0Cdwo8 pic.twitter.com/MN1BBnZwp0

— École nationale vétérinaire d’Alfort – EnvA (@Env_Alfort) August 4, 2021

“Boca”, which is able to distinguish all known mutants, comes with 100% of the correct results for patients with symptoms and 95% for those who do not show any symptoms, a category that is very necessary to detect infection, and it can diagnose the infection in these approximately 48 hours before the disease. BCR examinations.

The idea of ​​using dogs to detect diseases is not new, as it has been applied in cases of cancer, epilepsy, and others, but what distinguishes “Boca” is that it is the only dog ​​currently that detects infection with Covid-19 in a shelter for the elderly in France, according to coach Alain Legrand.

Haut-Rhin : Pokaa, premier chien de France détecteur de Covid en Ehpad, accompli a mission in Kunheim https://t.co/1C6FN6C0Q3 pic.twitter.com/Wg6xbkPCZ5

— France 3 Alsace (@F3Alsace) July 29, 2021