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

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?