Mice can do it too!

Dogs were bred for the purpose of hunting and finding game. Now Scientists are using mice to find the H5N1 flu, avian flu, in bird droppings. Mice, if trained properly, can identify duck droppings that were infected with the avian virus and those that don't. The success rate is 90%. Those that weren't trained properly had a 77% rate.
Many viruses are known to alter the scent of droppings, blood, etc, because of the respond from the immune system. The mice latch onto the scent of the avian virus, hoping that dogs could do the same, chemists are trying to identify the odor to properly train dogs to detect the same odor.
The avian flu is a strain of influenza found in animals. As people love their chickens, ducks, and wild bird game. Being aware of the species that contain the avian virus and contain the virus from spreading somehow.
The use of dogs for hunting game is long gone, but people now use dogs to retrieve game as a sport, rather than for food. Putting the advanced senses of dogs that humans bred them for is the best way we can better ourselves and the natural environment. It would be the fault of humans not to expect the virus originated from interactions between us right?

Link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/62540/title/Tracking_bird_flu_one_poop_at_a_time