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Apparently man’s best friend is taking on a whole new meaning…lifesavers! I’m not talking about Lassie, seeing eye dogs, or Newfoundland rescue dogs. I’m talking about trained “health care professionals.”
About five years ago, research began as an investigation done by an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. John Hunt. He was curious about numerous reports of dogs pestering their owners repeatedly on parts of their bodies that were later found to be cancerous. Hunt’s research showed that dogs’ hypersensitive noses are capable of detecting cancer cells and abnormalities in humans. Recently, the case of Paul Jackson, who suffers from diabetes, revealed that dogs can also warn their owners when their sugar levels get too low.
These findings led to British dogs specifically being trained to sniff out certain health dangers in humans at the Cancer and Bio-Detection Dogs research centre in Aylesburg, England. This Reuters article offers great insight on the details of how dogs are capable of having this innate skill.
So, is this the beginning of a new means for patient diagnosis? It may not be practical to have a dog in every doctor’s office, but researchers are attempting to invent an electronic nose that will be capable of mimicking this ability. The device is currently said to be about 15 years behind. Either way, these findings definitely prove that man’s best friend offers much more than companionship.
Contributed by: Ashley Hollingsworth
