From purring cats with healing properties to scorpions that can help us find brain tumors,
here are 10 amazing ways animals help us treat diseases…
10.
Pets & Autism
Last year, there were many scientific and academic papers published finding evidence
that having a pet greatly benefits people with mental health issues.
But if you already have pets, you probably already knew that!
Pets are great for everyone and they really provide a sense of stability and meaning in
your life.
With autism, children usually face the tough challenge of socializing.
It can be very difficult to participate and often leads to isolation.
But there is one great way that this side can be encouraged… getting that person to
interact with an animal.
Even the CDC is encouraging parents to get dogs for their children!
Bringing a household pet like a dog or cat into the mix seems to have proved effective
in developing a child’s social skills.
The human-animal bond enables them to open up and socialize more with others, as long
as the pet is well-matched to the owner.
Even classrooms with pets have shown that when a child is near the classroom pet, whether
it be a rabbit, a guinea pig or a lizard, they are more likely to talk, smile, and laugh
than those who are playing with toys.
Of course every child is different but pets have proven to reduce stress and anxiety and
give children a sense of belonging.
Spending time with a cute, cuddly creature is a universal language…and we all have
a lot to learn from animals.
Further studies are being performed to determine how to find the right pet companion for your
child and the further benefits of having a therapy animal.
9.
Zebrafish & Metabolic Disorders
While we have come a long way in laboratory technology, for many things we still need
animals to help us model human diseases so we can help treat them.
The zebrafish is a cool little thing to have swimming round your aquarium but did you know
it’s also at the forefront of helping humankind tackle various diseases?
The reason for this lies in their biological make up, which surprisingly, is very similar
to that of people.
These tropical freshwater fish have a similar genetic makeup to us, and the impact of any
genetic mutation or drug treatment is easy to see.
Since they are pretty transparent, scientists can use less intrusive techniques to minimize
their suffering and see what is going on.
They have lots of offspring and it is much easier to introduce genetic changes in the
fish than in rodents so we can study any mutations and map out any issues.
While we’re increasingly at risk from metabolic disorders like Type 2 diabetes and obesity,
the humble zebrafish can be studied and their genes edited to determine how such conditions
might evolve and work in our system, hopefully giving us a better chance of survival.
We can isolate symptoms in zebrafish and see how they are affected by any new drugs.
Zebrafish have also successfully modeled Duchenne muscular dystrophy and human melanoma.
8.
Bees & Disease
Something you might have heard about in recent years is the decline of the bee population.
This is due to stuff like pesticides and climate change and the consequences for humanity are
not good.
As you know, bees along with lots of other insects and animals are pollinators, helping
plants to reproduce.
35% of the world’s food is dependent on animal pollinators which are in a decline.
A new study published in The Lancet, examines the consequences for us if we don’t have
enough animals to pollinate our food.
Without bees, and by extension other insects and birds, etc. we will start seeing more
vitamin deficiency, more sickness, and even death.
Bees actually help keep our food healthy, which makes us healthy.
Studies in sub-saharan Africa and South Asia show there is an increase in vitamin A deficiency
and folate deficiency leading to increased birth defects and child mortality rates.
Bees may be little critters that sting you if you get in their way but we rely on them
to keep the world’s natural balance.
You’d be at greater risk of things like heart disease and even cancer if you weren’t
getting the right nutrients from food.
So next time you see a bee, let it do its thing and say thank you!!
And now for number 7, but first be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell
if you are new here!
7.
Dogs & Cancer
Another great way in which dogs have been instrumental is helping people deal with cancer.
As we saw with autism there’s much to be said for the emotional connection that can
be developed between humans and animals, and how that can open someone up and get them
talking about their treatment.
There’s also something about caring for a dog, be it a pet dog or otherwise, that
keeps a patient motivated and crucially takes their thoughts away from the day to day stresses
of coping with the disease.
Therapy dogs provide support to people who are vulnerable to depression and isolation.
Dogs can also be a lifeline in a physical sense, helping people who can’t move very
well by lending a helping paw.
Dogs can be trained to perform important tasks such as turning on appliances, carrying groceries,
and getting a phone.
A study conducted with cancer patients in New York City found that patients who spent
time with a therapy dog before each chemotherapy treatment reported an increase in their emotional
well-being.
If you are looking to find helper dogs for cancer patients be sure to look online at
the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and the AKC, but there are many more.
6.
Vipers & Blood Pressure
While we normally associate snakes with fear and stress (for ourselves!), believe it or
not, snake venom is helping to save lives.
Venomous toxins such as those from snakes, target vital body parts with extreme precision,
helping scientists create new drugs.
Believe it or not, people with super high blood pressure or ‘hypertension’ use medication
taken from snake venom to lower their blood pressure called captopril.
Pretty wild stuff huh?
So how does this work?
Well say you were a critter roaming round the Amazon basin and were unlucky enough to
run into the Brazilian pit viper, you might get a nasty bite and once the venom takes
effect, victims pass out out from a drop in blood pressure.
This helps the snake eat their food more easily.
So in small quantities, these venoms help create modern medicines.
Other drugs have also been based on venoms from the pygmy rattlesnake and the saw-scaled
viper.
5.
Mice & Blindness
Animal testing is an extremely divisive topic and no-one likes to think of little creatures
locked in cages for the advancement of science.
However this controversial practice has led to some major breakthroughs, and now genetically-altered
mice are proving invaluable in the fight against hereditary eye diseases.
If you’ve never heard of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium… well, you’re
not alone!
Put simply it’s a team that analyzes mice by turning them into ‘knockout’ mice.
That doesn’t mean they do mouse wrestling or whatever!
It means performing tests on their squeaky subjects, each of which has a specific gene
removed to help narrow down the research and arrive at a conclusion.
Because human and mouse DNA is similar enough to compare, scientists can then work out how
a person’s genes lead to mutations which can cause eye conditions such as hereditary
blindness.
The same idea has been applied to deafness and other categories, even bad breath.
Turns out that too, can be inherited!
4.
Purring Cats
Cats are generally mysterious little creatures, though they’re not exactly shy in coming
forward when they want something to eat, right?
Cat owners around the world are familiar with their pet poking them in the face with their
paw to wake them up, and of course purring loudly.
As you might expect with this kitty puzzle, the way a cat purrs is still being investigated
by experts even today.
They don’t exactly know how it’s done or what part of the body the soothing sound
originates from.
Purring is thought to be a sign of happiness in a cat and this is true, but it can also
represent other emotions such as stress.
Poor kitty!
And the most interesting feline fact is the purr is supposed to have healing properties…
not just for the cat but for their owners also.
Studies have shown a connection between the frequency of a cat’s purr and the frequencies
involved in therapeutic medicine.
That, together with the pleasing sensation of stroking its soft fur, and the sense of
companionship a cat can provide, means your meowing pal is a kind of all-in-one healing
package.
3.
Hibernation & Brain Diseases
You may recognize this little guy, the Syrian hamster because chances are you had one as
a pet.
Turns out that they have not only provided many of us with companionship as kids, but
also have given us vital information about the brain.
People suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease have fewer nerve cells and synapses
than a healthy brain.
Nerve connections get broken and don’t grow back.
While scientist still aren’t absolutely sure what causes cell death and tissue loss
in the Alzheimer’s brain, they have discovered that when hamsters and other small mammals
such as mice hibernate, their brains undergo structural and metabolic changes to help neurons
survive low temperatures.
When these creatures are hibernating, their brain created tangled structures similar to
those found in Alzheimer’s Disease.
It’s hamsters and mickey mouse to the rescue once again with researchers finding a link
between hibernation and regrowing brain connections.
What happens is that when a hamster hibernates for a few days, a certain protein becomes
more prevalent.
This protein appears to play a big part in how the animal brain builds itself back up
again.
By performing tests on healthy hamsters and mice, mice with Alzheimer’s and mice with
something called a ‘prion’ disease - which relates to neurodegenerative stuff such as
mad cow disease - scientists found the protein could extend brain function and lifespan.
It didn’t help those unfortunate mice with the advanced form of the disease but it definitely
helped in less developed cases.
It is believed that this process could be extended to humans in the future.
2.
Rats Sniff Out Disease
One thing animals are great at is sniffing things out, so it was only a matter of time
before that was used to pick up signs of disease.
It’s long been known that dogs and other pets can be alerted if there’s something
wrong with you, maybe a mole that doesn’t look right or something internal you’re
unaware of.
Now rats have been drafted in to help scientists in Africa who hope to tackle the tuberculosis
problem on the continent.
Tuberculosis or “TB” is an airborne disease that causes serious damage to the lungs and
other areas.
A staggering 9 million cases are reported worldwide every year and 25% are in Africa,
as well as the highest death rate.
While it can be treated, spotting in the lungs is a whole other matter.
So rats have been trained to literally follow their noses, becoming furry lifesavers in
the process.
With Mycobacterium tuberculosis - a bacterial pathogen - coming out of the body when someone
has the disease it’s relatively simple for a rodent to detect the offending element.
So if the thought of being sniffed at by a rat fills you with horror then hold that thought.
You might just be buying that little scavenger a drink to say thanks for picking up on the
TB.
Or at least a block of ripe cheese anyway…!
1.
Scorpions & Brain Tumours
This might just be the most surprising.
Scorpions have been amongst the most feared species on the planet with all kinds of creepy
crawly scenes in movies and stories from real life to back that up.
However turns out we’ve misunderstood this creature with the poisonous tail all along.
A scorpion might be able to pack a punch, but it can also save your life.
By creating their own version of scorpion venom, medical experts have found an unusual
and accurate way of painting brain tumours.
Doctors can inject a mock venom called BLZ-100 into the patient which is synthetic and basically
venom with the bad stuff taken out so your vital organs don’t shut down of course.
Once in the system it then ‘paints’ the tumour, enabling surgeons to differentiate
between the cancer cells and healthy tissue during complex operations.
This has proved most effective in treating children with brain cancer and it’s believed
this could be applied to other types of the disease.
It’s funny how the scarier things in nature can sometimes turn out to be the best for
treating diseases.
But no one said the natural world was straightforward!
Thanks for watching!
Science and nature together are pretty powerful.
Remember to thank your animal friends for everything they do for us.
Be sure to subscribe and I’ll see you next time!!