Latest news with #TeferaAgizew
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Giant rat celebrated for detecting one of the world's deadliest illnesses: 'We really do see them as heroes'
Carolina isn't your average retiree. After seven years of devoted work, Carolina, an African giant pouched rat, had sniffed out more than 3,000 cases of tuberculosis that medical tests had missed, likely helping 30,000 more people avoid infection, according to National Geographic. Carolina worked for APOPO, a nonprofit organization that has 40 trained rats fighting TB in Tanzania and Ethiopia. These remarkable animals aren't your typical city pests. Their bodies are longer than a 13-inch laptop, with equally long tails and an extraordinary sense of smell. "Everybody's first impression is that the rats are our enemies," said physician Tefera Agizew, head of tuberculosis for APOPO, in the National Geographic report. "Once they see how they function, they fall in love with them." TB remains the top killer worldwide from a single infectious agent, according to the World Health Organization. In Tanzania and Ethiopia alone, over 50,000 people died from TB in 2023, reported epidemiologist Tess Ryckman of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, per National Geographic. These rats are helping out in a big way — Carolina is able to screen 100 sputum samples in just 20 minutes, compared to the four days it takes a human with a microscope. This speed and accuracy have boosted detection rates by 40% at local clinics. The rats go through a year of training, incentivized with banana-avocado smoothie rewards. Each must pass a final test: evaluating 500 samples without missing a single positive case. APOPO's program, called HeroRATS, began with landmine detection before expanding to TB, National Geographic reported. Last year alone, the program prevented nearly 400,000 new TB cases in Tanzania and Ethiopia. Carolina now enjoys retirement in an outdoor enclosure, which she shares with a roommate, fellow retiree Gilbert. Her send-off featured applause, cake, and celebration from her human colleagues. "Not only are we saving people's lives, but we're also changing these perspectives and raising awareness and appreciation for something as lowly as a rat," said Cindy Fast, who coaches the rats as APOPO's head of training and behavioral research. "Because our rats are our colleagues, and we really do see them as heroes." The next time you wrinkle your nose at a rodent, remember Carolina, the giant rat with a tiny nose saving thousands of lives, one sniff at a time. Should the U.S. government ban all products tested on animals? Absolutely No way Only certain kinds of products Let each state decide Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
National Geographic
14-03-2025
- Health
- National Geographic
Carolina the giant rat retires as a hero after saving many lives
'Everybody's first impression is that the rats are our enemies,' Tefera Agizew, a physician and APOPO's head of tuberculosis, says of the animals' reputation in Africa and beyond. 'Once they see how they function, they fall in love with them.' African giant pouched rats are not your typical New York City–style rodent. They're calm, easier to train than some dogs, and able to work up to seven or eight years (they live eight to 10 years in captivity). Their body alone is generally longer than a 13-inch MacBook Air—and their tail is equally as long, if not longer. (A New York City rat is only about 16 inches, nose to tail.) A giant pouched rat's sense of smell is so strong that they could conceivably detect half a drop of chlorine in a space the size of 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools, says APOPO's head of training Cindy Fast, a behavioral neuroscientist who coaches the rodents. And while rats may be much-maligned in society, Carolina and her peers in East Africa have raised detection rates for TB—the leading cause of death worldwide by infectious disease—by 40 percent at local clinics, where patient samples undergo a smear test under a microscope that is, according to Agizew, usually only 20 to 40 percent accurate. (A more accurate rapid test is less available and more expensive.) And for every tuberculosis infection detected by a rat, it's estimated that 10 to 15 more humans are saved from an infection, since each tuberculosis patient tends to spread it to that many new people. All told, the program prevented nearly 400,000 new cases last year in Tanzania and Ethiopia alone, Agizew says. 'Not only are we saving people's lives, but we're also changing these perspectives and raising awareness and appreciation for something as lowly as a rat,' Fast adds. 'Because our rats are our colleagues, and we really do see them as heroes.'
