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Detection Of Inflammation Via Volatile Cues In Human Urine, Amy R. Gordon, Bruce A. Kimball, Kimmo Sorjonen, Bianka Karshikoff, John Axelsson, Mats Lekander, Johan N. Lundstrom, Mats J. Olsson

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Contagious disease is a major threat to survival, and the cost of relying on the immune system to defeat pathogens is high; therefore, behavioral avoidance of contagious individuals is arguably an adaptive strategy. Animal findings demonstrate the ability to detect and avoid sick individuals by the aid of olfactory cues, and a recent study indicated that human axillary odor also becomes more aversive as a function of immune activation. By injecting healthy human participants with lipopolysaccharide (0.6 ng/kg body weight) to experimentally induce inflammation, this study demonstrates that natural daily rhythms of urine odor—its perceived dimensions and volatile profile—are altered …