Apopo

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A giant hamster rat training (2009)

Apopo ( Antipersoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Productontwikkeling , German for example: "Development of products for landmine clearance ") is a non-profit Belgian NGO that researches, develops and disseminates methods for the use of sniffer rats for humanitarian purposes.

Fields of activity

Apopo trains giant hamster rats to become sniffer rats (so-called HeroRATS ) for the search for land mines and for rapid tuberculosis detection. The charitable non-profit organization has been researching this since 1997. It works largely on the basis of donations, e.g. B. through virtual adoption of a HeroRAT.

Land mine detection

The landmine detection method was developed by scientists from Belgium and Tanzania with the support of the University of Antwerp . The first use of the rats for mine detection in Mozambique was successful. In the meantime, the rats have been used in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa , e.g. B. Tanzania. In September 2015, Mozambique was declared mine-free.

Compared to metal detectors, the giant hamster rat shows 50 times more accuracy when it comes to mine hunting after three months of training. Compared to the sniffer dog, it has the advantage that it learns faster, uses less food and larger quantities of animals can be brought to the areas to be searched with far less effort. The hamster rats hardly trigger mines due to their low body weight.

Rapid detection of tuberculosis

Since 2007 the rats have been trained not only for explosives but also for the smell of tuberculosis (TB) and have been used for control diagnosis in TBC programs since mid-2008. The rats are not as perfect as a pathologist with a modern microscope, but they achieve far better results than many clinics in rural Africa achieve. A TBC detection rat can check 40 samples in just 7 minutes, a job that would take a trained laboratory technician a full day. The research was supported by the World Bank with $ 165,000.

Web links

Commons : APOPO  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ We train rats to save lives ( Memento from January 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) , on apopo.org . Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ site of APOPO , accessed on January 27, 2014
  3. ↑ a b c Giant rats evaluate tuberculosis samples. Animals test faster than the microscope. In: pressetext.com . December 17, 2003, accessed January 27, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Adopt a HeroRAT.Retrieved October 13, 2015
  5. ^ Mine-free Mozambique.Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ a b c Sybille Möckl: Sniffing professionals against tuberculosis. In: Focus . May 23, 2013, accessed January 27, 2014 .
  7. ↑ a b Tuberculosis Detection / Dar es Salaam ( Memento from January 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) . On apopo.org , accessed on January 27, 2014