London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 29, 2025

Latin America's police dogs turn noses to COVID

Latin America's police dogs turn noses to COVID

Their highly superior sense of smell has long been used to sniff out drugs, weapons and dead bodies. Now Latin America's crime-fighting police dogs are being trained to detect COVID-19.

In El Salvador, police are using artificial aromas similar to the sweat of a person infected with the coronavirus to train dogs.

"It's not so easy, because the COVID-19 strains seem to be changing a lot," said Wilber Alarcon, a canine handler from the Central American nation's anti-narcotics police.

"But the ones that are known have been synthesized and pseudo-aromas have been extracted to train the dogs," said Alarcon, who was in Mexico for a regional canine training exercise.

Alarcon expects COVID-19 sniffer dogs to soon be patrolling airports, bus terminals and border posts in his country, one of seven to attend the drills in Mexico's eastern state of Veracruz.

"The dog detects and marks the infected person, a strict biosafety protocol is activated, and you are reducing the risk that a person, or others close to the infected person, may catch the virus," he said.

Dogs are believed to have up to 300 million olfactory receptors—far more than humans—that give them their superior sense of smell.

Studies have suggested that they can detect the virus even in asymptomatic patients.

It is not the first time that dogs have been trained with artificial scents—they are also used to teach them to sniff out drugs or explosives.

In crime-plagued Mexico, where 80,000 people officially went missing between 2006 and 2020, the aromas include "putrefied, fresh or drowned corpse."

'Infallible animals'


In Mexico's northwestern state of Sonora, state and private organizations already have six dogs in operation and are training about 30 to detect the coronavirus, Juan Mancillas, head of "Canines Against COVID," told AFP.

They include breeds such as Golden Retrievers, Labradors, German Shepherds and Belgian Shepherds.

Similar programs are being carried out elsewhere in the region in response to a pandemic that has left more than 700,000 people dead across Latin America and the Caribbean.

In Chile, a squad from the Police Canine Training School has been deployed in the capital Santiago and there are plans to extend the initiative to other parts of the country.

In Europe, meanwhile, Czech trainers have reported a 95-percent success rate in COVID-19 detection in samples of human scent by dogs—seen as a fast, effective and pain-free method.

In Britain, the charity Medical Detection Dogs is also hoping to harness the power of canine noses that it says can smell other human illnesses such as cancer, Parkinson's disease and malaria.

In Miami, dogs have been deployed to sniff out COVID-19 infections among fans going to watch basketball.

Their new role in the pandemic is no surprise to handlers of the Veracruz state government's K9 Company of sniffer dogs, worth an estimated $24,000 each.

So powerful is their sense of smell that in 2016 they located a body buried three meters underground—a national record.

Several years later they detected a shipment of marijuana covered with thick layers of motor grease and coffee.

"They're infallible animals. They're never wrong. Humans are wrong," said K9 Company trainer Daniel Valentin Ortega.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
×