Negligible Allergen Presence in Hospital Dogs After Washing

Allergies are a potential risk when introducing dogs in health care. Therefore, I chose to evaluate if allergen levels in Hospital Dogs can be reduced by washing the dogs and thereby develop patient-safe guidelines when implicating Hospital Dogs in Swedish hospitals.

Samples (n = 29) were taken from the dog's fur before and after washing and after the Hospital Dog/child meeting to investigate change in allergens. Further samples were taken when washing with two different shampoos, measuring how long decreased levels of allergens lasted. The dog allergens Can f 1 and Can f 4 were analysed by competitive ELISA.

The mean allergen concentration of Can f 1 decreased from 21.8 ± 11.2 ng/mL before wash to 5.8 ± 3.7 ng/mL (p < 0.0001) after wash. Both types of shampoo resulted in a reduction of Can f 1 and Can f 4 and remained low for three days.

By washing the Hospital Dogs with shampoo, we have found a significant reduction of the dog allergen Can f 1 and Can f 4 lasting for at least three days. In the work of introducing certified Hospital Dogs into Swedish hospitals, which so far has not been possible in Sweden, this is an important finding.