Early December 2003, APOPO got awarded by the World Bank's 'development
marketplace' to investigate the possibilities of training African giant rats
as a cheap diagnostic tool for early TB detection in Tanzania. Preliminary
experiments showed that trained animals were able to discriminiate positive
from negative sputum samples, collected in local health centers. If
successful, this diagnostic method may have a high impact on TB control in
low income countries. From July 2004 onwards, APOPO plans to resume the R&D
program.
