Researchers say dogs can be trained to detect malaria

It was known that dogs could sense in men the signs of certain types of cancer and the risk of diabetic coma. A group of researchers now think that they can also be trained to detect malaria in children who still do not feel any symptoms and feel their socks.

Researchers from the United Kingdom and experts from the NGO Medical Detection Dogs in The Gambia conducted the experiment, which consisted of training dogs for months to stop when they sniffed a sock contaminated.

Their results were presented Monday at the annual conference of the American Society of Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana (south).

] The socks – a total of 175 samples taken – belonged to Gambian children, 30 of whom had tested positive for malaria, also called malaria, but had not yet had a fever.

Tested after. of their training, dogs have correctly identified 70% of the socks of children infected with the malaria parasite, which generates a peculiar smell and n skin and that the dog's sensitive odor apparently manages to detect.

The objective of this technique is to have a rapid, inexpensive and noninvasive screening test to detect malaria, which is transmitted by infected mosquitoes. 19659002] The annual number of deaths from this disease is estimated at 445,000 worldwide. And the number of cases has increased in recent years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Researchers believe that their technique can be further improved in terms of accuracy, as dogs will be trained with some degree larger socks.

For the experiment, the socks were previously frozen in the UK for the duration of the training, which could have limited effectiveness.

According to Steven Lindsay, entomologist at the British University of Durham. and the main author of the study, the technique could one day be used "at the entry points of countries, in the same way that dogs are trained in the detection of fruits, vegetables or drugs at airports. "

"This could help prevent the spread of malaria in countries that have eradicated it and allow people not knowing that they are infected with the malaria parasite to receive a drug" for the treat, he felt.