“Natural” Covid test: how bees detect infected people in seconds | the Chronicle

A research team from Wageningen University reported on Monday that they had realized train bees to detect when a person is infected with the virus. The invention offers an accessible alternative to the test methods currently available on the market, since it is based on the olfactory capacity of an insect which is found in all regions of the world.

The bees were instructed to “pull out the Tang” smell an infected organism. The truth is that Covid 19, along with other diseases, generates changes in the metabolism of the body in which it lives, causing changes in your smell imperceptible to humans but detectable to these small insects.

Bee training

Scientists collected 150 of the insects in the veterinary biology research laboratory of the Dutch university, and went to work with a unknown technique and reward:

The bees received positive and negative samples for the coronavirus, but after smelling the positive samples, the insects received a reward in the form of sugar water. By dint of repetition, it was possible for the bees to associate the odor of the positive cases with the sugar water, which made the upright bees extend their tongue when they detect the virus.

The experiments were performed with samples taken from mink and humans. Although the new test model is still in the early stages of development, scientists say bees have successfully detected Covid “with a number very low false positives and false negatives“.

Is a new test coming to the market?

The company InsectSense He collaborated with the scientific team in their experiments, and faced with the successful result, he would seek to commercialize the invention. The technology start-up is dedicated to “explores the possibilities of using insect behavior and their underlying molecular biology, to provide relevant solutions“.

InsectSense is working on the first prototypes of a machine that automatically drives the bees, like a biosensor that deploys insects when testing subjects.

The researchers claimed that thanks to the abundance of bees in the world, the technology dubbed “BeeSense“may result”very effective for low income countries who face challenges in accessing infrastructure and high technology“.