Necessity is the Mother of Inventions: Rats to be used to detect Tuberculosis

The animals’ sensitivity — that is, their ability to detect the presence of tuberculosis — ranged as high as 86.6 percent, and their specificity, or ability to detect the absence of the germ, was over 93 percent.

In another test that compared the rats’ success to microscopy, the rats picked up 44 percent more positive cases.

Necessity is the mother of inventions. Developping countries cannot afford expensive medical devices and have enough trained medical personel to tend care to their patients. The preliminary results of rats' performance are quite promising.

Via New York Times: Detecting Tuberculosis: No Microscopes, Just Rats