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Four-legged infection fighter hits the road to sniff out C. difficile

Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­Coastal Health has its very own four-legged infection fighter — Angus, the three-year-old English springer spaniel — and he’s taking his sniffing skills on the road in search of C. difficile spores in hospital environments.
Staff
VCH springer spaniel dog
Angus, the three-year-old English springer spaniel is taking his sniffing skills on the road this month. Image: Submitted

Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­Coastal Health has its very own four-legged infection fighter — Angus, the three-year-old English springer spaniel — and he’s taking his sniffing skills on the road in search of C. difficile spores in hospital environments.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to share our knowledge and expertise with our health care colleagues across the province,” said Teresa Zurberg, Angus’s trainer, in a press release. “Since Angus started working at Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­General Hospital in 2016, we have learned a tremendous amount about the presence and eradication of C. difficile in health care settings.”

VCH, the health authority for Richmond and Vancouver, has trained Angus to detect C. difficile, a superbug that attacks people who have weakened immune systems from antibiotics. He and another dog—Dodger—are members of an infection prevention team that includes an infection control practitioner and housekeeping staff.

While Angus will be visiting Interior Health throughout his tour this month, he will also visit other VCH locations in the future, including Richmond. While dates for a return visit are unknown at this time a VCH spokesperson told the Richmond News, Angus has visited the city in the past.

Since sniffing out C. difficile, Angus and Dodger’s work as led to a significant decrease in the number of hospital cases of C. difficile infection. Once Angus or Dodger detect the bacteria, the areas cleaned to remove nearly 100 per cent of the spores.

“In the Intensive Care Unit, we work hard to prevent the spread of infection by isolating patients, washing our hands and working with environmental services to keep the unit clean, said Jackson Lam, patient services manager for VCH in a press release. “Having Angus come through the ICU is an innovative and exciting way to discover new places that C. difficile might be lingering on surfaces.”

Of course, having a cute pup around hospitals can bring its own challenges.

“Everyone wants to pet Angus,” Lam said. “We have to respect that he is a working dog and not touch him, as handsome a dog as he is!”
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