Screening for SARS-CoV-2 persistence in Long COVID patients using sniffer dogs and scents from axillary sweats samples
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Abstract
Objectives: Dogs can be trained to identify several substances not detected by humans, corresponding to specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The presence of VOCs, triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection, was tested in sweat from Long COVID patients. Patients and methods: An axillary sweat sample of Long COVID patients and of COVID-19 negative, asymptomatic individuals was taken at home to avoid any hospital contact. Swabs were randomly placed in olfaction detection cones, and the material sniffed by at least 2 trained dogs. Results: Forty-five Long COVID patients, mean age 45 (6-71), 73.3% female, with prolonged symptoms evolving for a mean of 15.2 months (5-22) were tested. Dogs discriminated in a positive way 23/45 (51.1%) Long COVID patients versus 0/188 (0%) control individuals (p<.0001). Conclusion:This study suggests the persistence of a viral infection in some Long COVID patients and the possibility of providing a simple, highly sensitive, non-invasive test to detect viral presence, during acute and extended phases of COVID-19.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2022.01.11.21268036: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: They were followed at Hotel Dieu Hospital in a descriptive cohort for which an Ethics approval was granted (Institutional Review Board of Mondor, Creteil, France, IRB 00011558, Approval number 2020-088). Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization Each case to be checked was randomly placed with 4 negative swabs from COVID-19 negative and asymptomatic individuals in 5 different cones. Blinding The dog and his handler were both blinded to the Long COVID sample location. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when …
SciScore for 10.1101/2022.01.11.21268036: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: They were followed at Hotel Dieu Hospital in a descriptive cohort for which an Ethics approval was granted (Institutional Review Board of Mondor, Creteil, France, IRB 00011558, Approval number 2020-088). Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization Each case to be checked was randomly placed with 4 negative swabs from COVID-19 negative and asymptomatic individuals in 5 different cones. Blinding The dog and his handler were both blinded to the Long COVID sample location. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:We also recognize some limitations due to the relatively small sample size of our population, and the possible heterogeneity of self-sampling done by patients at home that can lead to the existence of false negatives canine olfactory detection (which minimizes test sensitivity). In conclusion, these results confirm the high probability of a SARS-CoV-2 viral persistence at least for some Long COVID patients, possibly with virus actively replicating. It also shows the limited utility of serological tests made during Long COVID. Such conclusions are of major importance for the management of future Long COVID treatments trials. In addition, with a better characterization of the detected VOCs, an improvement of odor sampling methods and the development of point-of-care instruments, this detection by dogs could also help to implement scent-based tests for other major human pathogens.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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