Life Saving Rats

Life Saving Rats

Life Saving Rats

Simply mentioning the word "rat" is enough to elicit feelings of disgust and horror in the majority of people. What if we were to tell you that some rats are literally saving people's lives?

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the major killers in Africa reaching epidemic proportions. The disease is treatable but many die daily because it goes largely undetected. The task of quick and early detection is not only an overwhelming and difficult process, it takes time. An organization in Tanzania called Apopo has discovered that rats can detect TB in human sputum samples quickly and accurately. A group of Tanzanian and Belgian researchers discovered that the native Giant African Pouch Rat can detect TB in sputum samples far quicker than conventional methods and laboratories.

Amazingly, one rat can screen 100 slides in 20 minutes whereas most laboratories in Africa struggle to screen 20 slides a day!

Giant African Pouch Rats are easy to train, tame and breed making them ideal candidates for worldwide implementation of TB detection. They are highly adaptable to different environments and easy to transport. Before being deployed on their task, these rats are trained to distinguish between samples containing TB and TB free samples, being offered a treat if they select the right sample (i.e. the one containing TB). Because of their highly sensitive sense of smell, the rats quickly learn to detect TB in sputum samples and are ready to start their lifesaving work.

Prior to this groundbreaking discovery, these rats were used for sniffing out landmines in Africa, another problem of epidemic proportions on the continent. The Belgian agency that was using the rats for this lifesaving work realized the potential of using the rats to detect TB. Their work has proved to be highly successful and these animals formerly considered as pests, have become world famous heroes, helping to save countless victims of landmines and TB in Africa. The rats excel over dogs (conventionally used for detecting minefields) because of their smaller size. They are less likely to detonate the mines and they are easier to transport to different areas.

All this developed from Apopo's founder Bart Weetjens' love for rats as a child. He kept them as pets when he was growing up and later as an adult became interested in the possibility of using rats to save human life. His childhood hobby has grown into lifesaving work, employing the rats affectionately called HeroRATS, and heroes they are indeed.

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