advertisements

The Israeli dogs that can detect cancer


Wednesday February 13, 2019
BY ALON EINHORN


Dog [Illustrative]. (photo credit: Courtesy)

Dogs were trained to smell cancer through different samples before, but "Dog Prognose" does it for the first time through saliva.

Somewhere in Southern Israel, a first-of-its-kind venture trains dogs to locate early signs of cancer.

The name of the laboratory is "Dog Prognose". It allows anyone to send a saliva sample (in a small plastic container), and receive an immediate answer as to whether he has cancer. The cost of the test is NIS 399.

advertisements
Uri Bakeman, professional dog trainer and owner of the laboratory, told the Army Radio that "the most important issue is that this test detects the disease at its earliest stage, since the dogs can identify the characteristic signs of smell of the disease. If the dog sits down after sniffing the sample, it means the it is suspicious."

In a recent study conducted by Prof. Pesach Schwartzman of the Ben-Gurion University, it was determined that the various types of cancer share an odor that dogs can identify.

A famous case of past of Daisy, a dog who managed to correctly identify 500 cases of cancer, and smell a total of 6,500 samples. Daisy, who worked for the "Medical Detection Dogs" foundation in the UK, passed away last year.

Daisy was a pioneer in sniffing out cancer cells in breath and urine samples, and even detected her owner's breast cancer in its early stages.

In 2014, Daisy was awarded the centenary edition of the Blue Cross medal for saving hundreds of lives.
 

More News