The super sense of smell some rats is not a myth for a long time. Already trained to detect explosive vapors, they have now been trained to sniff the characteristic odor of tuberculosis in children. This is the research work carried out by scientists from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania (East Africa). The results of their work have been published in Pediatric research.
In countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, tuberculosis is widespread. The problem is that the diagnosis is most often made using a cheap smear test, the accuracy of which varies with the quality of the sample.expectoration used (spit). Young children are often unable to provide a large volume of respiratory mucus, and the test may come out negative, not detecting the bacteria. Mycobacterium tuberculosis that causes tuberculosis.
Rats, more reliable than the standard test
In order to find a more efficient method, rats were trained to recognize the characteristic odor of molecules released by the bacteria in the sputum. 982 sputum samples from children under 5 were recovered. They had all already been analyzed by the standard smear test, which had revealed 34 cases of tuberculosis. The rats detected 57 additional cases, all of which were subsequently confirmed by a more advanced test. They were therefore able to identify 68% more TB infections.
These results were sent to the clinics concerned and the children could thus be taken care of. This new method therefore seems very promising for diagnosing the disease in young people and in low-income countries. Further studies on the accuracy of rats, and involving other types of samples, are still needed.
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