It's Thursday, I can smell the weekend from here! Naturally, rats use their sense of smell for survival. They might have poor vision, but they have an incredibly sensitive nose and will use it for many purposes, such as detecting potential food sources or predators from a distance. At #APOPO, African giant pouched rats use their natural scavenger behavior to find landmines within a minefield, tuberculosis in human sputum samples, illegally trafficked wildlife samples amongst common masking agents, a hidden human in a debris-filled building and more. Research at APOPO has found that our HeroRATs are capable of smelling explosives in minute picogram quantities, this is equivalent to 1 trillionth of a gram of TNT! #herorats #clickertraining #powerfulnose #landmines #savinglives (fb)

We’re proud to share that APOPO’s latest research has been published in PLOS ONE. The study confirms that our TB detection rats significantly boost finding additional cases — even in clinics using molecular testing like Xpert. In 2024, our #HeroRATs increased TB case finding by: - 44% over Xpert testing - 59% over smear microscopy - Especially effective in low bacterial load cases This research reinforces the unique value our rats bring to the fight to #EndTB. Read the full paper here: https://bit.ly/45gE0cj #TBDetection #GlobalHealth #Innovation #APOPO #SDG3 #tuberculosis (fb)