Reckless Creed Read Online Free PDF

just observe. But Grace knows what we’re here for.”
    â€œBecause of the collar?”
    â€œRight. She’ll sniff the surrounding air, but she should be able to tell if there’s a resident with
C. diff
and if so, let us know exactly which person it is. If she does detect it, she’ll alert by lying down in front of the infected person, or in the doorway to his or her room.”
    â€œYou’ve seen her do this?”
    â€œTwice last week.”
    â€œAnd both people had
C. diff
?”
    Creed nodded.
    Clostridium difficile
was a bacterium picked up from contaminated surfaces and usually spread from health care providers. From Creed’s own research, it was particularly nasty because symptoms didn’t show up in the beginning. Toxins released by the bacterium attacked the lining of the intestines. The resulting infection could be fatal if not detected early, especially in people with compromised immune systems. Diagnostic tests could be expensive and slow. In the test studies Creed read about, dogs were able to detect
C. diff
with one hundred percent sensitivity and ninety-six percent specificity. And they were able to do so in the very early stages, sooner than any of the available lab tests. The same was true for several cancers.
    â€œI get how dogs sniff out dead stuff and drugs,” Jason said, now keeping his voice low and quiet as more residents wandered closer. “Even explosives. They’re all very different smells. But infections? Cancer—all that stuff—seems like it would smell similar.”
    â€œYou mean like a sick person just smells like a sick person.”
    Jason met Creed’s eyes as if checking to see if he was making fun of him. Creed wasn’t.
    â€œRemember that dogs can differentiate between smells. Consider beef stew on the stovetop. You smell beef stew. Dogs have the ability to layer scent. They smell the beef, carrots, potatoes, onion . . . every ingredient. They can separate each of those scents. So to Grace—and hopefully Molly—diabetes smells different than cancer, and lung cancer smells different than prostate cancer, because each of those conditions triggers different reactions in the body. The immune system releases different mechanisms to fight or compensate.”
    â€œDead bodies seem easier.”
    â€œBut even they smell different at various stages of decomposition.”
    â€œOkay, I get it,” Jason said. “It just seems . . .”
    â€œToo incredible?”
    â€œA little bit.”
    â€œBut for dogs, it’s second nature. A dog’s whole world is based on scent. It’s just a part of who they are, what they do. They have over three hundred million scent receptors compared to our measly five million. Think of it this way. You can get a whiff of a teaspoon of sugar in your coffee. A dog can detect a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. It’s not just that they have sensitive noses. The part of the dog’s brain that’s dedicated to analyzing odors is forty times greater than ours. When you think of it that way, we’re not training them so much as we’re harnessing those abilities and finding a way to communicate what we want them to find.”
    â€œHey, Jason! What are you doing here?”
    Both Creed and Jason turned to see the man waving at them from one of the hallways. His feather-white hair stood straight up like he had just crawled out of bed. But Creed thought the rest of the old man—his trousers, buttoned shirt, and cardigan—all looked neat and pressed as if he had just stepped out of a business meeting. Until Creed noticed the pink bunny slippers.
    Creed heard Jason stifle a groan before he said, “That’s my granddad.”
    The man clapped Jason on the shoulder as his rheumy blue eyes took in Creed and the dogs.
    â€œYou must be working,” he said, then offered his hand to Creed. “I’m Gus