Rapid Responses to:

PAPERS: T J Cole Teaching dogs new tricks BMJ 2004; 329: 715 [Full text]

Rapid Responses: Submit a response to this article

Rapid Responses published:

Teaching new dogs old tricks, smell the strep!

Friedrich Flachsbart   (27 September 2004)

Thanks, Dr. Flachsbart. Excellent suggestion.

Dr. Herbert H. Nehrlich   (27 September 2004)

Teaching new dogs old tricks, smell the strep! 27 September 2004
Friedrich Flachsbart, General Medicine Praxis 37085 Göttingen Send response to journal: Re: Teaching new dogs old tricks, smell the strep!	Dear Sir, 23 January 2003 Matthew N. S. Hunt, GP in Cambridge, wrote a rapid response about "Smell of a sore throat". "..It seems to me from experience that this smell is associated with streptococcal infections." The WHO published 2004 "The Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke". The second download document is: "Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease." "Of 12 million people currently affected by rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, two-thirds are children between 5 and 15 years ago." 12 million people currently affected. We should transfer the medical treatment to the dogs, they would do a better job than we do. They would smell the streptococci. They would prevent all this preventable suffering. Sincerely yours Friedrich Flachsbart www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/resources/atlas/en/ Competing interests: None declared
Thanks, Dr. Flachsbart. Excellent suggestion. 27 September 2004
Dr. Herbert H. Nehrlich, Private Practice Bribie Island, Australia 4507 Send response to journal: Re: Thanks, Dr. Flachsbart. Excellent suggestion.	Intriguing stuff. Apparently, dogs can also be quite accurate in finding melanoma through their olfactory superiority. There is a good chance that this phenomenon will be stashed in the back rooms of Modern Medicine due to obvious lack of commercial viability. The mere mention of an apparent inability of the canines to comply with Koch's Postulates is the first hint of the gathering dust. Now, I do like the suggestion by Dr. Flachsbart very much. If we could turn over detection and management of certain important illnesses to Doctors Rover, Pooch and Rin-tin-tin we would stand a chance of improving outcome. As to having my trusty canine smell for strep throat I wonder how on earth she could get past her own formidable halitosis and still come up with a diagnosis. Competing interests: None declared