Page 50 - Bulletin, Vol.81 No.1, May 2022
P. 50

by doctors in the field, it is far from being shared by the decision-makers in our senior
            administration!

            Thus,  in  many  discussions,  two  powerful  paradigms  appeared  to  us  as  almost
            impossible  to  modify:  veterinarians  seeking  to  work  in  a  human  pandemic,  are  you
            kidding? Dogs as efficient as sophisticated machines, what nonsense!

            However, the proof is in the pudding and supports the positions taken by our veterinary
            and medical academies at the end of 2020, and more recently by the WHO: it works,
            and even very well!

            Publications of proof of concept, sensitivity and specificity data for the "canine olfactory
            test", results  of  mass  field  testing  (airports,  borders,  clusters,  retirement  homes,  etc.)
            are pouring in from many countries (France, Australia, Lebanon, Emirates, Brazil, Chile,
            Finland, Germany, USA, Great Britain) and involve all veterinary universities.

            Several countries have requested the expertise of "Nosaïs" in order to develop a similar
            protocol  for  operational  mass  screening  purposes:  Argentina  and  Chile,  which  are
            considering  deployment  in  airports,  Brazil,  Australia  and  soon,  Belgium.  The  United
            Arab  Emirates,  thanks  to  significant  resources,  is  currently  deploying  the  20  teams
            already  trained  at  Dubai  airport.  Implementation  at  the  arrival  of  tourist  liners  is  also
            envisaged.

            The Emirates organise an exchange symposium every two months, which now brings
            together 42 countries, while the WHO has enabled several thematic working groups to
            be structured.

            As for France... we are still waiting for both a decision-making process and, who knows,
            perhaps also the means within the framework of a deployment proposed and detailed
            last February?

            Today, support has come from the management of the EnvA (which has provided us
            with  dedicated  premises),  private  companies  (Royal-Canin,  CEVA,  Dômes  Pharma,
            VetOne) and the WHO.

            The  more  than  convincing  results  of  the  full-scale  test  carried  out  with  the  APHP
            (Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris) under the aegis of the Ile de France Region
            (average  sensitivity/specificity  of  the  canine  olfactory  test  at  97/91p1000,  and  for
            asymptomatic patients at 100/94p100), which are quite comparable to the results of the
            nasopharyngeal PCR test, will perhaps make some of those who are reluctant to take
            part think twice and change their minds?

            In terms of the costs involved, a dog test costs about 1 euro (75 times less than a PCR),
            and in our way of working on sweat samples, a dog can test about 150 samples per
            day. To be able to move to a detection on people "in line" would undoubtedly make it
            possible to multiply this figure by 10. But to do this, we need the will of the State, if only
            to facilitate access to samples (today it is compulsory to go through a research protocol
            managed by a university hospital and approved by a Commission for the Protection of
            Individuals, among others).


            48                                                  AAFI-AFICS BULLETIN, Vol. 81 No. 1, 2022-05
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