Tanzania's TB detection rats aid efforts in epidemic fight

STORY: Tanzania's TB detection rats aid efforts in epidemic fight DATELINE: March 24, 2023 LENGTH: 00:02:38 LOCATION: DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania CATEGORY: HEALTH SHOTLIST: 1. various of Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency 2. SOUNDBITE (English): JOSEPH SOKA, APOPO Program Manager STORYLINE: At least 19 African giant pouched rats are at the frontline of scaling up efforts aimed at ending tuberculosis (TB) in Tanzania by accelerating early detection. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's biggest city, 10 trained rats are housed in a forested state-of-the-art laboratory in the compounds of the Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency with only one mission: to detect TB with the highest accuracy. Nine other rats trained to detect the smell of mycobacterium TB in human sputum are stationed at the training center at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in the Morogoro region. At the lab in Dar es Salaam, the 10 TB-detection rats are working alongside 12 staff made up of rat handlers and laboratory technicians, said Joseph