Tag: medical sniffer dogs

Categories : Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

Bio Detection Dogs Successfully Detect Parkinson’s Disease by Odour

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Pauline Loroy on Unsplash

People with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have an odour that can be reliably detected from skin swabs by trained dogs, a new study shows. The research, in collaboration with Medical Detection Dogs and the Universities of Bristol and Manchester, is published in The Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

Two dogs were trained by the charity, Medical Detection Dogs, to distinguish between sebum swabs from people with and without Parkinson’s disease.

In a double blind trial, they showed sensitivity of up to 80% and specificity of up to 98%.

Not only that, they detected it in samples from patients who also had other health conditions.

The dogs were trained over a number of weeks on over 200 odour samples from individuals that had tested positive for PD and control samples from people who did not have the disease. Samples were presented to the dogs on a stand system and the dogs were rewarded for correctly indicating a positive sample and for correctly ignoring a negative sample.

In the double-blind testing, meaning that only a computer knew where the correct samples were, each line was also presented in reverse order so that samples for which no decision was made were re-presented. Then any unsearched samples were collected together in new lines, until a decision had been made for all samples.

A definitive diagnostic test for Parkinson’s Disease (PD) remains elusive, so identification of potential biomarkers could help diagnosis and timely intervention.

Claire Guest, Medical Detection Dogs CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, says: “We are extremely proud to say that once again, dogs can very accurately detect disease.

“There is currently no early test for Parkinson’s disease and symptoms may start up to 20 years before they become visible and persistent leading to a confirmed diagnosis.

“Timely diagnosis is key as subsequent treatment could slow down the progression of the disease and reduce the intensity of symptoms.”

Nicola Rooney, Associate Professor at Bristol Veterinary School at the University of Bristol and lead author, says: “Identifying diagnostic biomarkers of PD, particularly those that may predict development or help diagnose disease earlier is the subject of much ongoing research. The dogs in this study achieved high sensitivity and specificity and showed there is an olfactory signature distinct to patients with the disease. Sensitivity levels of 70% and 80% are well above chance and I believe that dogs could help us to develop a quick non-invasive and cost-effective method to identify patients with Parkinson’s disease.”

Perdita Barran, Professor of Mass Spectrometry at The University of Manchester, said: “It’s wonderful to be part of this research inspired by Joy Milne and our Nose2Diagnose programme. This study adds to the growing body of evidence showing that simple, non-invasive skin swabs can be used to diagnose Parkinson’s disease, offering a faster and more accessible method for early detection.”

The two dogs in the study were Golden Retriever, Bumper and Black Labrador, Peanut.

Source: University of Bristol

Categories : COVIDTags :

A Nose for COVID: Sniffer Dogs Outperform Antigen Tests

On By ModernMedia
Source: Pixabay CC0

Since the start of the COVID pandemic, dogs have been found to be able to sniff out signs of the virus in infected individuals, with some countries deploying the dogs at border posts to quickly check incoming travellers. Now, a new study published in PLOS One shows that they can be faster than rapid antigen tests, and in some instances even more sensitive than PCR testing.

Applications for medical sniffer dogs have been increasingly studied in recent years, and with the arrival of the COVID pandemic, they provided a quick, efficient way to test for SARS-CoV-2 infection. A number of studies demonstrated their effectiveness, with one study reporting a 94% accuracy. Now, this new study shows that can be as accurate as antigen tests, especially in asymptomatic individuals.

The researchers conducted a prospective cohort study in two community COVID screening centres, with 143 symptomatic and 192 asymptomatic adults. Participants were tested with two nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS), one saliva and one sweat sample. The dog handlers (and the dogs…) were blinded to the individuals’ COVID status. The dogs’ sniff tests were compared to nasopharyngeal RT-PCR as the reference standard, saliva RT-PCR and nasopharyngeal antigen testing.

Overall, 109 of the 335 participants tested positive on nasopharyngeal RT-PCR, 78 symptomatic and 31 asymptomatic. The overall sensitivity of canine detection was 97% and even reached 100% in asymptomatic individuals compared to NPS RT-PCR. The specificity was 91%, reaching 94% for asymptomatic individuals. The sensitivity of canine detection was higher than that of nasopharyngeal antigen testing (97%), but the specificity was lower (90% versus 97%).

The researchers concluded that using dogs’ sense of smell to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection could be a speedy alternative to NPS RT-PCR when rapid testing is necessary when antigenic tests are the standard for mass screening.