Bees can be trained to recognize corona and thus signal the infection with it. They may also actually be used to help with the diagnosis, which could be a solution, especially in poor countries. So says Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, which, together with the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse and start-up InsectSense, has already taken the first steps towards the use of bees in the fight against the virus.
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Bees can smell very well, they can detect a flower from miles away. In Lelystad it was investigated with 150 of these animals whether they could be trained quickly to detect samples infected with SARS-CoV-2 or corona. Those samples were simply taken with a cotton swab.
“Each time the bees were exposed to the scent of an infected sample, they received a sugar water reward. The bees stuck out their tongues to collect the sugar water. By repeating this action several times, the bees associated the sugar reward with the smell and they started sticking out their tongues for the scent alone, without reward. Tongue sticking out can be detected with a biosensor, which has also been developed.
According to the researchers, the method “has the potential to be very reliable”, because it works with three to five bees per diagnosis. They cannot give exact success rates yet.
Bees can still be found worldwide, the researchers said, and can be used a few times as a corona detector. Then they can be released. It is very unlikely that the bees will carry virus particles further after their ‘work’, but this is also being investigated further to be sure.
In addition to bees, equipment is therefore needed to train bees, to house trained bees and the biosensor to register the sticking out of the tongues. According to the researchers, the bee tests are “already in the initial phase much cheaper than the current tests and systems”, because the necessary machines are simple and the test results can be read immediately.
By: ANP
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