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Sniffing animals as a diagnostic tool in infectious diseases
1AP-HP, Groupe hospitalier Lariboisière - Fernand-Widal, Service de Bactériologie, Paris, France; Université de Paris, INSERM, IAME UMR1137, Paris, France.
Summary
Sniffing animals can aid in diagnosing infectious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria. Developing scent-based instruments could offer new diagnostic solutions, though challenges like reproducibility and cost remain.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Infectious Diseases
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Microbial infections can produce distinct odors, a phenomenon leveraged by both clinicians and animals for diagnosis.
- Animals possess remarkable olfactory acuity, utilized in various detection tasks, including disease identification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize current knowledge on using sniffing animals for diagnosing infectious diseases.
- To explore the potential of scent-based diagnostic instruments in microbiology.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of PubMed and online news (January 2000 - September 2019).
- Search terms included 'odour', 'scent', 'bacteria', 'diagnostics', 'tuberculosis', 'malaria', and 'volatile compounds'.
Main Results:
- Dogs effectively detect Clostridioides difficile and urinary tract infections.
- African giant pouched rats show promise for tuberculosis diagnosis.
- Methods for detecting malaria via skin odor or breath analysis have been developed.
- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from infections can be analyzed using spectrometry and metabolomics.
Conclusions:
- Animal sniffing offers intermediate diagnostic solutions for certain infectious diseases.
- Challenges include reproducibility, training costs, and housing expenses.
- Future goals involve understanding animal olfaction and identifying specific VOCs for developing point-of-care scent-based diagnostic instruments.
