Can We Use Human Odors to Diagnose Malaria?

Stanczyk, Nina M.; Moraes, Consuelo Μ. De; Mescher, Mark C.

doi:10.2217/fmb-2018-0312

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…These findings, as well as further studies described in a recent literature review [29], suggest that skin and breath volatile biomarkers have significant potential for the development of a robust, non-invasive screening assay for detecting malaria infections and differentiation of symptomatic and asymptomatic infections.…”

Section: Diagnosing Malaria By Host Odoursupporting

confidence: 56%

Sniffing animals as a diagnostic tool in infectious diseases

Cambau¹,

Poljak²

2020

Clinical Microbiology and Infection

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Background: Scents and odours characterize some microbes when grown in the laboratory, and experienced clinicians can diagnose patients with some infectious diseases based on their smell. Animal sniffing is an innate behaviour, and animals' olfactory acuity is used for detecting people, weapons, bombs, narcotics and food. Objectives: We briefly summarized current knowledge regarding the use of sniffing animals to diagnose some infectious diseases and the potential use of scent-based diagnostic instruments in microbiology. Sources: Information was sought through PubMed and extracted from peer-reviewed literature published between January 2000 and September 2019 and from reliable online news. The search terms 'odour', 'scent', 'bacteria', 'diagnostics', 'tuberculosis', 'malaria' and 'volatile compounds' were used. Content: Four major areas of using sniffing animals are summarized. Dogs have been used to reliably detect stool associated with toxigenic Clostridioides difficile and for surveillance. Dogs showed high sensitivity and moderate specificity for detecting urinary tract infections in comparison to culture, especially for Escherichia coli. African giant pouched rats showed superiority for diagnosing tuberculosis over microscopy, but inferiority to culture/molecular methods. Several approaches for detecting malaria by analysing host skin odour or exhaled breath have been explored successfully. Some microbial infections produce specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can be analysed by spectrometry, metabolomics or other analytical approaches to replace animal sniffing. Implications: The results of sniffing animal studies are fascinating, and animal sniffing can provide intermediate diagnostic solutions for some infectious diseases. Lack of reproducibility, and cost of animal training and housing are major drawbacks for wider implementation of sniffing animals. The ultimate goal is to understand the biological background of this animal ability and to characterize the specific VOCs that animals are recognizing. VOC identification, improvement of odour sampling methods and development of point-of-care instruments could allow implementation of scent-based tests for major human pathogens.

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Section: Diagnosing Malaria By Host Odoursupporting

confidence: 56%

Sniffing animals as a diagnostic tool in infectious diseases

Cambau¹,

Poljak²

2020

Clinical Microbiology and Infection

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“…It is thus intriguing that the emission of these compounds appears to be specifically influenced by the presence of malaria parasites. As we have previously speculated 3 , 7 , malaria-induced changes in volatile cues that enhance transmission probability via effects on mosquito attraction 19 might generate robust biomarkers of infection status.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…In the case of lung cancer, a large-scale trial for diagnostic detection using VOCs is currently underway 26 . For many other diseases, however, significant challenges remain to be overcome prior to the implementation of large-scale trials, including the identification of a robust and reproducible set of candidate biomarkers 3 , which can be complicated by the absence of standardized methods for volatile collection and analysis 27 . In the case of malaria, several previous studies have reported successful prediction of infection status based on analysis of VOCs; however, there is considerable variation in the predictive compounds identified, likely owing to divergent methodologies across studies.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The potential diagnostic value of such changes in volatile chemistry has long been recognized, and volatile-based diagnostics are being actively explored for a number of diseases, including several types of cancer 1 , 2 . However, a major challenge for the development of volatile disease biomarkers is posed by the inherent variability of human volatile emissions, which are highly labile and can be influenced by a wide range of genetic, physiological, and environmental factors 3 . In light of this variability, there is reason to speculate that volatile biomarkers might be of particular value in diagnosing diseases caused by insect-borne pathogens, which frequently manipulate the odors of their hosts in ways that influence vector behavior and might therefore be highly conserved 4 – 6 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A unique volatile signature distinguishes malaria infection from other conditions that cause similar symptoms

Pulido¹,

Stanczyk²,

Moraes³

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Recent findings suggest that changes in human odors caused by malaria infection have significant potential as diagnostic biomarkers. However, uncertainty remains regarding the specificity of such biomarkers, particularly in populations where many different pathological conditions may elicit similar symptoms. We explored the ability of volatile biomarkers to predict malaria infection status in Kenyan schoolchildren exhibiting a range of malaria-like symptoms. Using genetic algorithm models to explore data from skin volatile collections, we were able to identify malaria infection with 100% accuracy among children with fever and 75% accuracy among children with other symptoms. While we observed characteristic changes in volatile patterns driven by symptomatology, our models also identified malaria-specific biomarkers with robust predictive capability even in the presence of other pathogens that elicit similar symptoms.

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Manipulation by Plasmodium Parasites of Anopheles Mosquito Behavior and Human Odors

Sanford

Shutler

2022

Acta Parasit.

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Can We Use Human Odors to Diagnose Malaria?

Cited by 4 publications

References 22 publications

Sniffing animals as a diagnostic tool in infectious diseases

Sniffing animals as a diagnostic tool in infectious diseases

A unique volatile signature distinguishes malaria infection from other conditions that cause similar symptoms

Manipulation by Plasmodium Parasites of Anopheles Mosquito Behavior and Human Odors

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