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Trained dog detected C. difficile in patients, stool samples
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Clostridium difficile was detected by a trained dog, in stool samples and in patients, with high sensitivity and specificity, researchers from the Netherlands reported in the British Medical Journal.
“Early and rapid identification of C. difficile infection is important for the initiation of infection control measures and treatment to prevent transmission,” the researchers wrote. “C. difficile associated with diarrhea has often been described as having a characteristic smell. [Because dogs have a superior sense of smell] we hypothesized that it might be possible for a dog to be trained to recognize the presence of C. difficile in stool samples, or even in patients.”
The 2-year-old beagle was trained by a professional detection dog instructor to detect C. difficile in stool samples and in patients.
Image: Krab E
The 2-year-old beagle was trained by a professional detection dog instructor to detect C. difficile in stool samples and in patients. Consecutive patients from two hospitals who tested positive for C. difficile from September 2010 to May 2011 were included in this study. Each of the 30 patients had nine matched controls without C. difficile. The dog also was presented with 100 stool samples, of which half had C. difficile.
The dog correctly identified 25 of 30 cases, resulting in 83% sensitivity. He also correctly identified 265 of the 270 controls, which translated to 95% specificity. For the stool samples, the dog correctly identified all 50 of the positive samples (100% sensitivity) and 47 of 50 of the negative samples (100% specificity, if interpreting the three inconclusive responses as negative responses).
“In this proof of principle study, a trained dog was able to detect C. difficile with high estimated sensitivity and specificity, both in stool samples and in infected patients, in a hospital setting,” the researchers wrote. “This finding could have great potential for screening for C. difficile infection in health care facilities and thus contribute to the control and prevention of outbreaks.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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