World Bee Day: Bees can smell Corona

Wild and honey bees not only play a crucial role in our ecosystem, they also have distinctive social behavior and a strong sense of smell. According to initial studies, the insects can even detect a corona infection.

Researchers from the Netherlands have trained bees to identify people infected with  COVID-19  .

This is how the bee recognizes a corona infection

Bees have a keen  sense of smell thanks to their approximately 60,000 scent receptors . With the help of their antennae, they recognize even the smallest traces of scent on their search for nectar and pollen. Special structures of the nervous system also help the bee to process a lot of information quickly and to select important smells.

According to information from the Reuters news agency, Dutch researchers managed to condition bees to recognize breath samples from corona infected people.

• Researchers first exposed the bees to the positive samples.
• Immediately afterwards, the bees were given sugary water as a positive reinforcer.
• No reward was given to the animals if negative samples were presented.

The result: After smelling positive samples, the bees automatically stretched out their proboscis in anticipation of the reward. The animals recognized the samples faster than conventional PCR tests – the intelligent insects registered the infection immediately.

Bees aren’t the only animals that can smell disease. Dogs are also able to detect a positive corona infection after sufficient training. They are also used as companion dogs for diabetic patients in order to detect possible diabetic  shock at an  early stage.