Sniffer dogs can smell malaria parasites on your clothes

Dogs have been trained in the use of smell to diagnose certain forms of cancer and diabetes, and now British scientists have helped train two dogs to detect malaria parasites, with the help of British organization Medical Detection Dogs.

"We took the socks that had caught the children's smell during the night and took them by plane to the UK, where dogs were trained to smell and differentiate between infected and uninfected specimens," he said. Lindsay.

Of the samples, 175 were used to train dogs: 30 in children infected with malaria and 145 in uninfected children.

Sensing only the socks, the dogs – Lexi, a Labrador Golden Retriever, and Sally, a lab – were able to accurately detect 70% of infected children and 90% of uninfected children.

The study shows that dogs can be used as tools for detecting malaria, as they do for the diagnosis of certain forms of cancer, according to the researchers.

However, further research is needed after this pilot study and the authors warn that the method is still in the early stages of testing. They will have to test the technique on samples from other countries before the animals can be used in the field, they said..

Additional studies should also be conducted, particularly in African countries, to determine if dogs can "directly" detect malaria in infected people, the team said.

The detection rates could have been higher – up to 78% – if children with malaria had the same type of malaria parasites, they added.

The researchers believe that their findings could be useful for detecting malaria in people with no evidence of fever, a common symptom, thus preventing its spread, especially in countries where the disease has been eliminated. Identification would also help people get treated early with antimalarials.

"It is useful in countries like South Africa, close to elimination, or in Sri Lanka, which have eliminated malaria." How do you locate this person in a million parasite carriers in a country that has not registered any infection without performing invasive testing? " "Lindsay said.

The method may not be effective in endemic countries such as Nigeria, where malaria is actively transmitted, said Lindsay.

"Dogs are good in countries where they are no longer infected with malaria and where there is no malaria, and you have to prevent people from introducing malaria into the country … by the airport or the ports. "

Claire Guest, CEO of Medical Detection Dogs, says she's excited about the results. It's the first time that the charity trains dogs to detect a parasitic infection, although its dogs have helped in the detection of cancer and diabetes in canine dogs. A dog named Freya has been trained in malaria detection since the first study.

She explained that the results obtained would suggest that dogs could be cost-effective tools for diagnosing tropical diseases, especially in areas where they are lacking.

"I believe that this study indicates that dogs have an excellent ability to detect malaria and that, if they are presented to an individual infected with the parasite or by a recently worn garment, their level of accuracy will be extremely high. It's a reliable, non-invasive test and is extremely exciting for the future, "Guest said.