Rats against Tuberculosis

Dec 18 2024 The Guardian

Cheap, smart and efficient: how giant rats are transforming the fight against TB

This is not a story about the sequel for Ratatouille, though it sounds like it would be.

African giant pouched rats are used to detect TB in sputum samples in Tanzania, because of their exceptional sense of smell.

And they are very good at it. Samples that were deemed to be negative in laboratory tests, are sent for secondary screening by the rats, and “52% of initially negative tests are reassessed as positive by the rats”.

The samples are clinically tested again, and “rats are correct in at least 82% of cases”.

They test about 400 samples a week, and have found more than 30.000 “missed” cases so far. Since TB is so infectious, this means at least 300.000 potential infection prevented.

“One untreated person can infect 10-15 people, multiply that by 24,000 people correctly treated, who had been missed through regular tests. These were not just samples, these were lives saved,” says Dr Joseph Soka, a manager at Apopo’s laboratory.

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BTW, these are the same rats which are used in mine detection, they can be trained to sniff out explosives. Link to that story is below,

'Heroic' giant rats sniff out landmines in Tanzania

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Ratatouille was about a rat who loved good food and had an exquisite sense of taste, shouldn’t these African rats get their own movie?