One of the most effective ways of dealing with COVID-19 is detecting the virus in the first place. Rapid tests, or antigen tests, have been the primary way to do this for the last two years, but there might also be another accurate detection method closer to home -- your dog.

In a study published Wednesday in the journal Plos One, French researchers shared the results of a study they conducted to see how effectively dogs can be trained to detect COVID-19. According to their work, the initial results are promising.

In their study, the researchers included PCR and sweat samples from 335 people and antigen tests from 234 people recruited from two community testing centers in Paris between March 16 and April 9, 2021.

What they found was that trained dogs were capable of detecting a positive case of COVID-19 effectively in 97% of their cases. In contrast, the nasal antigen test is capable of detecting a positive infection between 64% and 84% of the time.

Dogs' potential for detecting COVID-19 has been noted by other researchers during the pandemic. Last year, researchers in Florida found that dogs could predict a positive COVID case with 73% to 93% accuracy after a month of training. A second study from the United Kingdom found that dogs had an accuracy between 82% and 94% in detecting a positive COVID case.

There were some caveats to the study, however. Since the research took place in spring 2021, the dogs were trained to detect primarily the original strain of COVID-19. In the months since, the Delta and Omicron variant, as well as the AB.2 subvariant, have been the leading strains of the virus, so it is unclear how accurate a trained dog may be in detecting the newer mutations.

Another caveat is that it remains unclear how easily applicable the dog-detection method may be beyond the laboratory. Dr. Cynthia Otto, director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center at the University of Pennsylvania, acknowledged that it may be possible to train more dogs to serve as effective COVID-detectors but that would require more time and study.

"That eventually could be done, but making sure it’s done with all the proper controls and quality assurances and safety — it’s a big step," Otto told NBC News. "I haven’t seen anyone who has proposed how to make that transition in a way that’s scientific and safe."

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