Unique laboratorians

Medical Laboratory Observer, Feb, 2004

Unique laboratorians. In an unusual report from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, the Associated Press reported on Dec. 15 that giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) trained to sniff out land mines in Africa are now learning--with the help of a $163,780 grant from the World Bank--to detect tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in human saliva.

The rat can sniff 120 to 150 human saliva samples in lab dishes in 30 minutes compared to the day's work it takes for a human technician to analyze 20 samples. The rat stops in front of samples that smell like TB and waits to be rewarded, but walks past samples where TB is not present. Some of the grant funds will be used to build a new lab to test for TB at the research station at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, 100 miles west of Dar Es Salaam.