Top 5 facts
- Tuberculosis ranks as the world’s leading cause of death from an infectious disease, claiming 1.7 million lives worldwide every year
- For every additional patient placed on TB treatment, HeroRATs like Carolina potentially help halt the spread of TB to up to 15 other people per year
- A TB detection rat can check 100 sputum samples for TB in as little as 20 minutes. This would typically take a lab technician up to 4 days using conventional microscopy. Any suspect samples are then re-checked using WHO endorsed confirmation tests.
- Carolina and the HeroRATs have helped raise detection rates in our partner public clinics by 40%
- In Sub-Saharan Africa, half of the TB patients remain undiagnosed or untreated and globally this number is as high as 4.1 million. These ‘missed’ TB positive patients usually include the most vulnerable and those without proper access to care
