Research shows that rats can detect
tuberculosis in children with higher accuracy than standard microscopy tests
Date: April
9, 2018
Source:
Springer
Rats are able to detect whether a child has
tuberculosis (TB), and are much more successful at doing this than a commonly
used basic microscopy test. These are the results of research led by Georgies
Mgode of the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. The study,
published by Springer Nature in Pediatric Research, shows that when
trained rats were given children's sputum samples to sniff, the animals were
able to pinpoint 68 percent more cases of TB infections than detected through a
standard smear test. Inspiration for investigating the diagnosis of TB through
smell came from anecdotal evidence that people suffering from the potentially
fatal lung disease emit a specific odour. According to Mgode, current TB
detection methods are far from perfect, especially in under-resourced countries
in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia where the disease is prevalent, and
where a reasonably cheap smear test is commonly used. Problems with this type
of test are that the accuracy varies depending on the quality of sputum sample
used, and very young children are often unable to provide enough sputum to be
analysed.
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