When it comes to accurately diagnosing a disease, you might think you need expensive, high-tech machinery and equipment capable of looking deep beneath the skin at what’s going on in the body. But while these high-tech implements certainly are incredible, they aren’t the only instruments capable of detecting disease. In fact, you may even share a home with one of these powerful disease-detecting agents.

There are numerous of instances of unsuspecting pet owners learning they had a health problem from their pet. Examples include dogs licking, sniffing and even trying to chew spots on their owner’s skin – spots that were later diagnosed as malignant melanoma.

In fact, many species of animals – from the microscopic worm C elegans, to ants, mice and dogs – have all successfully demonstrated the ability to detect diseases in people and from biological samples during experiments.

The diseases detected are diverse – from cancer and urinary tract infections to COVID-19 and the gastrointestinal infection, Clostridium difficile.

Many of these diseases are potentially serious, especially in vulnerable and immunocompromised patients, so accurate and early detection is essential.

Here are just a few of the amazing animals that are able to detect disease in humans:

Dogs are possibly the most well-known example of an animal that can detect a range of diseases – including Parkinson’s disease, bladder cancer and malaria.........

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