A nose for trouble

Disease detection dogs helping medical studies

MEET the Mag-sniff-icent Seven... these dogs could lead the way for medical research thanks to their ability to detect conditions and warn of health emergencies.

The animals already aid patients by sniffing out the signature odours of a range of diseases.

And fresh research on their skills could save those with conditions such as Parkinson’s and prostate cancer.

Dr Claire Guest, founder of Medical Detection Dogs, said: “They have the power to revolutionise the future of diagnostics and save millions of lives.”

The charity has teamed up with the University of Manchester to learn how dogs like cocker spaniel Asher detect the chemical indicators of Parkinson’s.

They want to hone the animals’ skills to help diagnose patients up to 10 years before symptoms emerge.

MDD is collaborating with two US universities to train dogs like Midas, a Hungarian wirehaired vizsla, to detect prostate cancer in urine samples, in a bid to develop an artificial biosensor.

The charity, in Great Horwood, Bucks, is also working with the NHS to help spot pending infections.

The dogs do basic training then focus on a disease for nine months.

Elizabeth Draper, 23, has postural tachycardia syndrome, causing blackouts. Labrador Henry alerts her up to seven minutes ahead of palpitations.

Elizabeth said: “My life was on hold until Henry came along.”

Labrador Magic is trained to monitor his diabetic owner’s blood-glucose levels, while Honey detects bacteria.

Freya, a springer spaniel, is training to detect malaria and yorkiepoo Eliza is training in bio detection.

Springer spaniel, age 2 Speciality: malaria Yorkiepoo, age 1 Speciality: bio Cocker spaniel, age 5 Speciality: Parkinson’s Hungarian wirehaired vizsla, 7 Speciality: prostate cancer Labrador, age 6 Speciality: diabetes Labrador, age 3Speciality: bacteria detection Labrador, age 3 Speciality: heart ALERTS Elizabeth Draper and pet Henry