A detection dog to identify patients with Clostridium difficile infection during a hospital outbreak.

Objectives: Early and rapid identification of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) is important to prevent transmission. In this study we assessed the diagnostic accuracy of a trained detection dog for detecting CDI cases on hospital wards in an outbreak setting.

Methods: During a CDI outbreak in a large Dutch university hospital, we screened affected hospital wards repeatedly with a trained detection dog.

Using a dog's superior olfactory sensitivity to identify Clostridium difficile in stools and patients: proof of principle study.

Objective: To investigate whether a dog's superior olfactory sensitivity can be used to detect Clostridium difficile in stool samples and hospital patients.

Design: Proof of principle study, using a case-control design.

Setting: Two large Dutch teaching hospitals.