Can vertebrates communicate disease status through airborne chemical signalling?

Context. Many interactions between organisms in nature are mediated by external chemical signals (pheromones and other semiochemicals). Plants, livestock animals and human beings respond to biotic stress (pests, pathogens) by modifying their volatile phenotypes i.e. the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). For plants, physiologically relevant levels of VOCs appear to prime neighbouring plants to prepare themselves for future pest and pathogen attack. Priming is when plant defences are potentiated so that the response to subsequent pest or pathogen attack is faster and stronger. The priming effect can include modification of volatile phenotype linked to altered expression of genes, with the priming response again depending on host genotypes. Whilst the role of biotic stress-induced VOCs influencing defence pathways in neighbouring undamaged plants has been described previously, it is completely unknown if biotic stress-induced VOCs from livestock hosts can cause a priming effect in neighbouring livestock hosts.