Dogs can be trained for a future in the medical profession
Seems like a click bait title if ever I saw one, but the statement couldn’t be truer. As reports suggest, dogs can indeed be trained as medical pros, and they can end up saving lives.
To say that dogs are helpful would be an understatement for sure. They can go get your favorite slippers, they can go get that ball you throw away when you play catch with them, and they can most definitely be appropriate guides for those with disabilities of many sorts.
Paging doctor Terrier! Dogs can help to save your life in more ways than you could imagine…
They cannot however make a sandwich for you when hungry…contrary to the promise those old Miracle Whip commercials taunted us with for ages.
But they can indeed be trained to help protect those with serious illness, according to a report from a few years back at sciencefocus.com.
As the aforementioned source states, K9s can indeed be trained to detect nut allergies in a person, and soon they will apparently be able to detect the onset of Parkinson’s as well as malaria; even Addison’s disease, type-1 diabetes and even cancer.
*Addison’s disease attacks the adrenal glands—in which case these glands to not produce enough cortisol, which helps keep blood pressure in check, as well as the strengthening of the ever-important immune system.
What a study has to say about dogs in the medical field
A study was conducted at University of Bristol Veterinary School in which dogs were trained to determine when a subject’s blood sugar had skyrocketed.
Dr Nicola Rooney, who conducted the study, stated:
"“We already know that a patient’s quality of life is vastly improved by having a medical detection dog…But to date, evidence has come from small-scale studies. Our study provides the first large-scale evaluation of using medical detection dogs to detect hypoglycemia.”"
In the case of the aforementioned Malaria, we need to look specifically at the studies and work of Professor James Logan at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has been studying the disease for quite some time.
"“So the malaria parasite is manipulating the human body to boost its chances of being transmitted…It would be lovely if we could put a leash on a mosquito and take it round a community to find people infected with malaria. Not possible. But there is an animal we can do that with…”"
Professor Steve Lindsay, of Durham University’s biosciences department concurs:
"“We think the malaria odor is so strong that the dogs can probably pick someone out from a crowd. So we’re looking at using the dogs at ports of entry to countries to detect people carrying the malaria parasite…”"
The theories expressed in this piece are from five years ago and since, studies have only furthered in this department and even more discoveries have been made…
The success of the former theories though, can lead the dogs in such programs to detect other terrible diseases that have been afflicting the planet for years and years…. Professor Logan further states:
"“We know that other diseases have smells. If we can use the animals to help us pick out the right smells then we could develop diagnostics for any of these diseases…”"
In the end, knowing our dogs, we can be sure they’d be more than happy to help—proud even.
Next. Meet the rusty-spotted cat—the tiniest cat in the wild. dark
Readers…do you have any stories you want to share about how helpful your dogs are? Have you seen any dogs in the medical field first hand?