Ability of Cricetomys rats to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis and discriminate it from other microorganisms

Summary Trained African giant pouched rats ( Cricetomys gambianus ) have potential for diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). These rats target volatile compounds of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb ) that cause TB. Mtb and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) species are related to Nocardia and Rhodococcus spp., which are also acid-fast bacilli and can be misdiagnosed as Mtb in smear microscopy. Diagnostic performance of C. gambianus on in vitro -cultured mycobacterial and related pulmonary microbes is unknown. This study reports on the response of TB detection rats to cultures of reference Mtb , clinical Mtb , NTM, Nocardia ; Rhodococcus ; Streptomyces ; Bacillus ; and yeasts. Trained rats significantly discriminated Mtb from other microbes ( p