Angus, a two-year-old English springer spaniel, is making rounds in the internet as the only canine that can effectively sniff out the deadly superbug Clostridium difficile. This bacteria forms spores as a way to protect itself but also making it able to persist in the environment for long time. It is highly contagious and occasionally deadly, and is caused by antibiotic use or coming in contact with a contaminated surface.
According to Elizabeth Bryce of the Vancouver Coastal Health Infection Prevention and Control, this bacteria is highly invisible but Angus can easily smell it. Each year, around 15,000 people die of C. difficile infections in the US, and half a million more suffer from its unpleasant effects. However, the thing that gets the attention of health authorities is the aggressively antibiotic-resistant nature of the deadly superbug.
Antibiotic-resistant cases are surging recently, causing the WHO to call it a health crisis affecting most parts of the world. With the absence of effective tools to treat such cases, Angus' sniffing ability easily makes him a celebrity in the medical scene. Wearing a hospital badge, he sniffs each hospital beds and other furniture to check the presence of the deadly bacteria, The Guardian says.
Typically, hospitals have to expose each rooms to ultraviolet to find the bacteria which takes a while to complete. With Angus, the process flows much faster, enabling a robot to immediately clean the area. The cleaning robot eliminates 99.9 percent of the C. difficile spores, the CBS News reports.
Angus started his bacteria sniffing training three years ago when his owner's wife suffered an infection caused by the bacteria. After surviving the illness, Teresa Zurberg and her husband, Markus, were inspired by bomb-sniffing dogs in training Angus to do the same but with focus on the specific bacteria. Now, Angus is the only canine with the job description, inspiring hospitals to employ more canines like him to detect the deadly superbug and save lives.
