Bio-detection Dogs sniffing Leishmania infection: an efficient diagnostic tool for pet and public health

Canine Leishmaniasis is a multisystemic zoonotic vector-borne disease, incurable and potentially fatal, transmitted to humans and dogs by the bite of female sandflies, representing a major public health problem in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the World Health Organization (WHO). In the medical-diagnostic field, trained sniffer dogs have demonstrated significant potential as a non-invasive, efficient, and cost-effective screening approach for the early detection of diseases like cancer, malaria, periprosthetic joint infections or COVID-19, as well as diabetic alert service (DADs). his paper presents a pilot study dealing with canine olfactory detection of Leishmania infection in dogs and its relevance to the topic of animal and public health. The pilot testing conducted in view of the development and execution of a larger-scale trial suggests that a broader study is likely to be successful and could produce valuable results in terms of using dogs’ exceptional olfactory abilities as a rapid, efficient and reliable diagnostic tool for sniffing out infectious diseases, with specific focus on the detection of canine Leishmaniasis