HeroRATS for Tuberculosis Elimination:
A Tanzanian non-profit organization conducts research to train African giant pouched rats, or HeroRATS, to detect Tuberculosis (TB).
- These rats show high accuracy, especially in resource-limited areas. This research could help speed up TB detection in countries like India.
- HeroRATS have an exceptional sense of smell due to their sensitive olfactory receptors, allowing them to detect diseases like TB.
- HeroRATS undergoes a training program, learning to detect TB in sputum samples (thick mucus from lungs). They can screen 100 samples in just 20 minutes, compared to 3–4 days for traditional methods.
- Detected samples are then confirmed using Ziehl-Neelsen and fluorescent microscopy.
- Increased Detection Rates: HeroRATS doubled TB detection rates in children compared to conventional testing.
- The rats were six times more effective at detecting TB in patients with a low bacillary load compared to those with a higher concentration of bacteria.
- They outperformed traditional microscopy, which often fails in such cases.
