COVID19 sniffer Bees

In France dogs were trained to smell the SARS-Cov-2 virus on human swet samples with success. The study is conducted by Pr. Grandjean in Alfort Veterinary School (ENVA) in collaboration with Corsica teams and Beyrouth University. In the Netherlands a team from Wageningen University leaded by Wim van Der Poel and the Start-up InsectSense have trained bees to extend their tongues when they smell the coronavirus on samples. They used sugar water reward to detect SARS-CoV-2 infected samples in a Pavlovian conditioning method. This technique of detecting coronavirus could be particularly useful in remote areas and developing communities where standard PCR tests cannot be carried out. 

Links:

https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2021-10-27/Bees-trained-to-detect-COVID-19-14HLQ2PjwwE/index.html

https://www.wur.nl/en/news-wur/Show/Training-bees-to-smell-the-coronavirus.htm

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.03.132134v1