Humans can detect axillary odor cues of an acute respiratory infection in others.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Body odor conveys information about health status to conspecifics and influences approach-avoidance behaviors in animals. Experiments that induce sickness in otherwise healthy individuals suggest that humans too can detect sensory cues to infection in others. Here, we investigated whether individuals could detect through smell a naturally occurring acute respiratory infection in others and whether sickness severity, measured via body temperature and sickness symptoms, was associated with the accuracy of detection.

Methodology

Body odor samples were collected from 20 donors, once while healthy and once while sick with an acute respiratory infection. Using a double-blind, two-alternative forced-choice method, 80 raters were instructed to identify the

SUBMITTER: Tognetti A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10324639 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature