NOV 27 — Mention animals in healthcare and puns like “CAT scan” or lab tests inevitably crop up. Still, animals in human healthcare have become serious business. As man learns more about the wonders of the animal kingdom, applications to human health are starting to be discovered.
The notion of “medicinal food of animal origin” is still extremely controversial though and, despite centuries of belief and practice, the evidence of benefits from, say, bird’s nest, shark’s fin or rhinoceros’ horn is still scanty.
Living, breathing animals are a different story altogether. A growing amount of data suggests that the abilities of animals are increasingly being explored in human healthcare.
In 1989, British medical journal The Lancet published a letter “Sniffer Dogs in the Melanoma Clinic?” Two dermatologists reported how a woman’s dog had saved her life by repeatedly sniffing at a mole on her leg, even to the extent of attempting to bite the mole off. Alarmed, the woman headed to the dermatologist and insisted that the mole, which had previously been inspected by a doctor and diagnosed as harmless, be removed.
The excised mole was then sent to the pathology lab for evaluation. The diagnosis was melanoma — the most deadly type of skin cancer in man.
Today, the canine’s uncanny nose has been put to the test for other cancers, including lung and breast cancers, with impressive initial results.
Rats, you have tuberculosis
African giant pouched rats, too, are known for their incredible sense of smell. In fact, they have been used in landmine detection for many years. However, since 2008, these rats have also been diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) in Tanzania. Yes, even today, TB still afflicts 8.6 million people around the world each year and kills 1.3 million.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Dr Negussie Beyene, TB Programme Manager at Apopo, a Belgian non-governmental organisation leading this initiative, remarked: “In history, Hippocrates used smelling to detect some diseases, so it’s not something new.”
In fact, the rats perform better than human technicians, improving detection rates by more than 30 per cent.
Best of all, they are fast and cheap. The World Health Organization states that a single technician can analyse 25 samples a day; the rat does 10 samples in a minute. Cost of training? US$7,800 (RM25,116) and the rats live an average of seven to eight years.
Therapeutic critters
In Singapore, pet therapy has been around for some time. Dogs have been deployed to nursing homes to engage elderly residents. They can also help autistic children learn about routine and emotional management.
Pet therapy is not confined to land; tourists pay good money to swim with dolphins for enjoyment, and did you know that dolphin therapy may improve depression symptoms?
Researchers in Honduras put patients with depression through a structured programme of interaction with dolphins. They then compared the treated group against controls and concluded: “The therapy was effective in alleviating symptoms of depression after two weeks of treatment. Animal-facilitated therapy with dolphins is an effective treatment for mild to moderate depression.”
Still on the subject of sea animals, the Garra rufa fish is known for its voracious appetite. A centre in Turkey has used the so-called “doctor fish” to treat psoriasis — a skin disease leading to thickened, itchy skin.
The patient soaks in the spa for six hours a day while the fish munch away at the thickened skin, removing excess layers and enabling the selenium-rich waters to come into contact with the skin. Aficionados swear by the treatment, which needs to be repeated every 12 to 18 months. However, the UK Health Protection Agency has warned of potential infection risks.
A somewhat whimsical example is the use of snails in beauty remedies. Snail extracts have been popular for their purported rejuvenating properties attributed to hyaluronic acid. If extracts offer benefits, surely, live snails will be more effective?
Last year, snail facials were introduced in Japan and England. Specially bred snails were placed on the face and allowed to crawl around. Dr Sunil Chopra, an England-based dermatologist comparing extracts with live snails, remarked to the Daily Mail that “... the live snails should be a lot more effective as their properties aren’t lost over time”.
The role of animals in human healthcare is still in its infancy and rapidly evolving, but enough is known to encourage doctors and researchers to look harder and with more fertile imagination. — Today
* Jeremy Lim has held senior level executive roles in the Singapore public and private sectors, and is the author of Myth Or Magic: The Singapore Healthcare System.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online
