Using Dog Scent Detection as a Point-of-Care Tool to Identify Toxigenic Clostridium difficile in Stool.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Taylor MT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6105104 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Using Dog Scent Detection as a Point-of-Care Tool to Identify Toxigenic <i>Clostridium difficile</i> in Stool.
Taylor Maureen T MT McCready Janine J Broukhanski George G Kirpalaney Sakshi S Lutz Haydon H Powis Jeff J
Open forum infectious diseases 20180822 8
We evaluated the operating characteristics of 2 comparably trained dogs as a "point-of-care" diagnostic tool to detect toxin gene-positive <i>Clostridium difficile</i>. Although each dog could detect toxin gene-positive <i>C difficile</i> in stool specimens with sensitivities of 77.6 and 92.6 and specificities of 85.1 and 84.5, respectively, interrater reliability is only modest (Cohen's kappa 0.52), limiting widespread application. ...[more]
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