UTI Detection Pups

What if service dogs could do double duty, helping people with limited mobility, while monitoring them for possible infection? Many people with assistance dogs have injuries that make them especially prone to frequent and complicated urinary tract infections (UTIs). These infections aren't just uncomfortable, they can spread quickly to the kidney and blood stream, causing sepsis that can result in death. Early detection is important, but difficult for this population. So Assistance Dogs of Hawaii teamed up with Pine Street Foundation and the Kapiolani Medical Canter of Women and Children to explore how their talented pups could help.

In their study, five Labrador and Golden Retrievers were clicker trained to identify urine samples that were culture-positive for bacteria, including E. coli. They had no previous scent training. After eight weeks, their new skills were put to the test with 687 new urine samples. 456 were from subjects with negative urine cultures (the control group) and 231 were from subjects with positive urine cultures for bacteria.

The dogs detected positive samples with a 90 to 94 percent accuracy. Also, sensitivity was not affected when E.coli urine was diluted with distilled water. The study showed that canine scent detection is a feasible method for the detection of bacteria. The scientists hope that future research can teach dogs to identify other infections, such as MRSA and C-Diff, or distinguish between bacterial and viral infections. At the moment they're conducting research in hospitals, where UTIs are the most common acquired infection in all patients.

A month after the study was completed, one of the dogs spontaneously alerted the staff to a person visiting the training center. They had been feeling ill, but hadn't suspected a UTI. Afterwards the person went to the doctor who made a UTI diagnosis.

There is really no limit to what our amazing dogs can do!