I once knew a guy who had two rats as pets. Before I actually saw them, I thought he was crazy. Who keeps rats as pets?! If living in New York City taught me anything, it was that rats were gross and routinely tried to run over your feet in deserted train stations.
But then I met the little guys, and they were nothing like the monster-rats of the city subways. They were actually cute, social and totally smart.
Scientists have begun to realize just how smart rats really are with an experiment that involves the animals sniffing out tuberculosis in humans.
According to APOPO, a nonprofit organization that collects samples and trains rats to sniff out the possible TB hidden inside the samples, "disease detection has improved by 44 percent."
The founder of APOPO explained that while they also use dogs to help them sniff out possible TB strains that doctors may have missed, "whatever dogs can detect, rats can detect equally well. They're more calm than most small animals, very intelligent and social, and they love humans."
The reason this new rat-based research is so important is that tuberculosis is often difficult to detect, but if left untreated, can kill up to half of its victims. Even though most people in the United States can find adequate treatment, TB is known to affect about "2 billion people" worldwide – a population big enough to warrant preventative research.
This study is great rat PR, because even though a select few realize these rodents aren't all disease-carrying scavengers, the majority of us still can't get the beady-eyed monster NYC rat image out of our minds. But hey, if they keep saving our lives, we might just change our opinion.
…As long as the ones in the subway still never touch me.
Comments
Leave a comment