Abstract
Changes in body odor are known to be a consequence of many diseases. Much of the published work on disease-related and body odor changes has involved parasites and certain cancers. Much less studied have been viral diseases, possibly due to an absence of good animal model systems. Here we studied possible alteration of fecal odors in animals infected with avian influenza viruses (AIV). In a behavioral study, inbred C57BL/6 mice were trained in a standard Y-maze to discriminate odors emanating from feces collected from mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) infected with low-pathogenic avian influenza virus compared to fecal odors from non-infected controls. Mice could discriminate odors from non-infected compared to infected individual ducks on the basis of fecal odors when feces from post-infection periods were paired with feces from pre-infection periods. Prompted by this indication of odor change, fecal samples were subjected to dynamic headspace and solvent extraction analyses employing gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to identify chemical markers indicative of AIV infection. Chemical analyses indicated that AIV infection was associated with a marked increase of acetoin (3-hydroxy-2-butanone) in feces. These experiments demonstrate that information regarding viral infection exists via volatile metabolites present in feces. Further, they suggest that odor changes following virus infection could play a role in regulating behavior of conspecifics exposed to infected individuals.
Highlights
It has long been speculated that infections may cause odor changes in animals and humans [1,2,3,4]
Bioassay All six trained mice demonstrated greater than 80% concordance in 13 training sessions
Lack of discrimination among feces from noninfected ducks (Ducks #1 and 2; Table 3) during generalization sessions indicated that sample collection period was not the source of within-duck fecal odor changes
Summary
It has long been speculated that infections may cause odor changes in animals and humans [1,2,3,4]. It was shown recently that infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis produces unique volatiles in the breath of infected donors [5]. Several cancers have been detected from odors in breath or urine by trained dogs [6]. Much of the research involving volatile metabolites associated with infection has focused on parasites [7,8,9], though influenza [10] and mammary tumor virus [11] have been studied in mice. The mechanisms underlying alteration of body odor by infection are poorly understood, but they may involve alteration of immune function [11]. Odor changes may result directly from disease pathology [12]
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