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Chris Tachibana writes: Could a giant, spit-sniffing rat save your life? Maybe — they can be better than humans at diagnosing tuberculosis.
A pilot program in Tanzania is using trained rats to smell TB in sputum samples. Up to 1,000 samples a week are collected from local hospitals by APOPO, a nonprofit that also trains rats to sniff out landmines. Although the TB samples have already been checked by a human under the microscope, the rat pack’s sniff tests have improved disease detection by 44 percent because the clever rodents often find TB that was missed.
While the World Health Organization estimates that 2 billion people around the world are infected with TB, it can be hard to detect under a microscope, particularly in those who are also HIV positive. That’s where the giant rats can help. They might turn out to be just as accurate at finding TB. They're low-tech and could screen for TB in resource-limited countries. They’re also faster than the standard microscope test, says Bart Weetjens, APOPO founder. A human with a microscope can process 40 samples a day. A rat can do 40 in seven minutes, he says.
Weetjens, who was inspired by a childhood pet rat, started APOPO in the 1990s to train giant pouched rats, which are native to sub-Saharan Africa, to detect land mines in the region. The rats were so good at sniffing out hidden bombs that in 2003, APOPO started training their nosy little friends to smell TB in a spit sample. Currently working with a team of 30 rats, APOPO is now optimizing their unique program, so in the future, it might be used in other communities.
Rats aren’t the only creatures making medical diagnoses. Dogs can also be trained to find disease in humans, like smelling urine samples for signs of cancer. (One little terrier recently chewed off his owner’s big toe after sniffing out a dangerous diabetes-related infection.)
But in a nose-to-nose contest, Weetjens says rats are better than bomb- or disease-sniffing dogs.
"Whatever dogs can detect, rats can detect equally well," he says, noting a rat can be trained for one-fifth the cost. "They're more calm than most small animals, very intelligent and social, and they love humans."
Rats’ reputation as disease-carrying vermin is exaggerated. Weetjens says that in 12 years of working with the giant rats, no one at APOPO has gotten sick from them. The rats themselves are resistant to TB and many tropical diseases. "They're really lovable creatures," says Weetjens. "Like a pet you can work with."
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This just might come in handy to keep medical testing and costs down once ObamaCare kicks into gear.
maybe there's a rat for sniffing out your mental retardation
"This just might come in handy to keep medical testing and costs down once ObamaCare kicks into gear."
What a maroon - the insurance companies are the ones promoting less (costly) treatment and death panels.
ChrisPA - don't hold out too much hope - rats are intelligent they probably wouldn't go anywhere near someone who spouts faux news.
damn you Chris your comment made me snort my coffee laughing :p
Why are laboratory scientists switching from rats to Republicans for their experiments?
1. Republicans are more plentiful than rats;
2. The lab technicians don't get as attached to the Republicans, and
3. There are some things a rat just won't do.
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I can't help it. I love that joke. I actually helped train a rat, nicknamed "Super Rat", some forty years ago that routinely received and ate over 400 pellets of food per two hour training session in a cage("Skinner box") with a mechanism that was set to deliver one pellet for every 256 bar presses. In two hours!
Do the math.
Super Rat became a minor celebrity, and people would regularly request to be present during the sessions... sometimes there was literally "standing room only" in the lab to witness this extraordinary female rat.
Gambian pouched rats, they get to be 10 pounds, that is larger than a small dog. This is considered an illegal exotic pet in the United States but I think there are some still running around in the Florida Keys.
not true. They get 3 lbs. usually at most. 4 pounds is PUSHING it. My boy was 2 lbs most of his life, borderline 3 at his heaviest. They are also NOT illegal in the USA anymore as of 2 years ago (the ban was lifted), but it's almost impossible to find them in the USA because the import ban is still in effect. Pouched rats are absolutely amazing pets, but for the right person. Mine was extremely intelligent, could figure out simple puzzles and tricks FAST (as in, it took him all of a couple minutes to learn something like walking on his hind legs or jumping through a hoop for treats), and mine even used our toilet to go to the bathroom, or his litter box in his cage. They're extremely easy to potty train, it's crazy. He was also 100% accurate with his toilet habits, at ALL times.
While my pet pouched rat, while alive, was certainly larger than a teacup chihuahua, he was by no means anywhere near 10 pounds. That rumor was set in motion by idiots who didn't do proper research and tried reporting about that monkeypox fiasco that happened in 2003. It's amazing how one exotic animal importer who doesn't properly quarantine his animals ruins it for everyone in the exotic pet industry, but the sheer number of dogs, horses, cattle, and cats that spread illnesses, bites, and even cause death in humans every year doesn't do a single thing for owners of those animals. Unless of course it's a pit bull, but that's it. That importer, by the way, is still importing and selling exotic animals, so it didn't exactly effect his business in the long run. It just made a LOT of others who deal with exotic pets extremely angry at him, but many don't even know who he is.
Also, no one has seen gambians in florida keys in a VERY long time, trust us, we've tried finding them and catching them. They poisoned them all long ago in a large scale effort to get rid of them. If someone were to find one, I'd take it in a heartbeat and pay them handsomly for it. I know hundreds of people across the US who'd do the same, but it just isn't happening.
According to Dorst (Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa) the Giant Rat reaches two pounds. I lived a year in The Gambia, where these animals are quite common and where they are eaten regularly, both wild-caught and raised for food. I never had occasion to eat one, but saw them occasionally in the wild and hanging in the public market. Many Africans keep them as pets, finding them superior to dogs and easier to feed. Dorst says they are "quite affectionate." The genus is Cricetomys and there are at least two species. They aren't "pouched" like a marsupial, but have cheek pouches, like our chipmunks, in which they store food.
If it works,why not !!!
The rat might sniff out my tuberculosis, but if I saw the rat I'd die anyway.
my dogs do this without training. no joke. they will sniff at the part of your body that has an interior infection on a daily basis. they know when something has changed.
You have daily interior infections? WTF??
Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.
Heh...tipped for the Princess Bride reference.
As you wish..
yes they do...republicrats
"republicrats" - a cross between a republican and a democrat:)))
Yes, Rob, they exist. Look up Capybara in your encyclopaedia. It occurs in the Amazon Basin ind is ollie sized (but chunkier). It is classified by the Catholic Church as a fish and therefore is eaten widely at Easter.
The Giant Rat is a cricetomid (like the Hamster) and isn't very rat-looking. It has a deep nose and a rather stupid look. Length is about 18 inches, a third of which is tail. See my post above for more info.
Rats are wonderful pets we used to raise them. The only thing is they do chew as do all animals that have teeth that never stop growing. And there is an odor stronger with the males, but smart and warm loving little creatures. I have never understood someone being afraid of them. I would love to see these big guys I can only imagine walking one down the street here. I guess one would have the street to ones self .
I agree as I used to have them as pets and I loved my little guys! I'd like to get see these big guys up close and personal...they are so cute!
Yay ROUSes!
Rats are very cool animals. Very intelligent. They make groovy pets (I had an awesome one who died last year, may he rest in peace). I'm glad the big ones will be able to help people.
Props to the poster who was able to make a positive story about rats and healthcare into a negative story about Obama and healthcare. It takes a certain kind of person to create something negative out of anything.
I wonder if they botch a TB job they are put on permanent land mind duty?
Wonder if Sarah Palin can sniff out diseases
Nah she would quit before she found one due to the difficulty in the job especially if people criticized her too much.
Palinitis?
She might sniff out a disease... the question is would she finish the job and report it?
I'm thinkin' if I have a dog sized rat in my house I've got bigger problems than TB on my hands! Yikes!
Darn near the size of a politician.
I'm having trouble getting past the words "dog-sized rats". I know that there's more to the article, but I'm kinda stuck there. I have a dog, I've had pet rats, but having a rat the size of a dog.... Sorry, I'm outta here.
Babs, there are dogs and dogs. If you are envisioning a rat the size of a German Shepherd or even a Cocker Spaniel, think Chihuahua. "Cat-size" would be a better descriptive, but msnbc writers are encouraged to make their headlines catchy. See my post above. Maximum adult size is 2 pounds; that's a small cat.
but if u let them go hungry they can eat u up too so i would make sure they are fed before n after work.
so there u have it animals are doctors too.
If there were a bunch of politicians in a room, I wonder if a rat could smell out another rat? Probably not, I suspect, out of professional courtesy.
These argh the same people using hamsters 2 detect prostate cancer, arghn't they