Tanzania’s Hero Rats Detect Tuberculosis

In Tanzania, a very unusual group of health workers is saving lives. They are not doctors or nurses. They are giant African pouched rats, trained by the non-profit group APOPO.

These rats are called HeroRATs. They can smell and find tuberculosis (TB) in saliva samples much faster than machines in a lab. One rat can check 100 samples in only 20 minutes. Many times, they find TB cases that normal tests miss.

This is very important in Africa. TB is one of the biggest killers, and many people cannot reach advanced hospitals or labs. The rats are cheap to train, reliable, and accurate.

HeroRATs also help in another way. They can smell and detect landmines, keeping communities safe from explosions.

These small animals show that solutions can come from Africa itself. They may be small, but their impact is very big.

Source: Tefera B. Agizew et al., BMC Infectious Diseases, Vol. 24, Article 401, April 15 2024