Scots scientists believe rats could help in fight against coronavirus

Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonotic disease that causes humans flu-like symptoms, problems in bones, joints and heart, and in some cases death.

But it is expensive and hard to detect.

And now the University of Glasgow is working with researchers at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania on a project funded by the to use sniffer rats to tackle the problem.

READ MORE: Research into Covid-19 detector dogs begins

African giant pouched rats - which can grow to 3ft in length - have previously been successfully trained to sniff out landmines and tuberculosis.

In Tanzania, Mozambique and Ethiopia sniffer rats have helped increase the detection rate of tuberculosis in partner clinics by around 40 per cent.

Now they are being specially trained to help with the blight of brucellosis.

It is thought the research funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) could have wider benefits to understanding how zoonotic diseases like Covid make the leap to humans.

Professor Dan Haydon (above), director of the institute of biodiversity, animal health and comparative medicine at the University of Glasgow says the rats could conceivably be used in the fight against Covid-19.

He said: “It is entirely possible that these rats could be trained to detect Covid-19. There is already evidence that dogs can.”

Prof Haydon explained: “I had been talking with someone who worked in Yellowstone National Park, where they have a brucella problem with elk, bison and cattle, and they use dogs to smell it.

“It was news to me. So, I was describing this somewhat light-heartedly to colleagues and Professor Rudovick Kazwala, who is lead researcher at Sokoine, said, ‘Aha, well, we already have this facility where rats are being specially trained to sniff landmines and tuberculosis’.

“So, we figured if they can smell landmines and smell TB then surely we can get them to smell brucellosis? And the long and the short of it is that it turns out you can.”

Around the world, dogs are already being trained to detect the whiff of Covid-19 infections. Dog trainers are claiming extraordinary results — in some cases, they say that dogs can detect the virus with almost perfect accuracy.

Scientists involved with the efforts have suggested that canines could help to control the pandemic because they can screen hundreds of people an hour in busy laces such as airports or sports stadiums and are cheaper to run that conventional testing methods.

But most of these findings have not yet been peer reviewed or published, making it hard for the wider scientific community to evaluate the claims. Researchers working on more conventional viral tests say that initial results from dog groups are intriguing and show promise. But some question whether the process can be scaled up to a level that would allow the animals to make a meaningful impact.

Professor Haydon added: “Six out of every ten known infectious diseases of humans are estimated to originate from animals. Three-quarters of new or emerging infectious diseases in humans originates from animals, of which Covid-19 represents a particularly devastating example.”

Currently, nine rats, named Hawking, Skinner, Sloth, Stewart, Zhang, Angela, Aung, Jane, and Pipp, are being trained to sniff out heat inactivated brucella bacteria at the same lab in Tanzania that developed landmine and tuberculosis seeking rodents.

The giant pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus) is used rather than the standard lab rat (Rattus norvegicus) because they are easier to source in sub-Saharan Africa and live longer.

Testing so far has established that the rats can perform with a specificity of 98 per cent and a sensitivity of 92 per cent.

Prof Haydon said: “Brucellosis may not be a killer disease, but infected animals will fail to reproduce, calves are not born or miscarried, milk production reduces, as more animals become unproductive, costing a farmer much-needed income or their livelihood.

READ MORE: Watch: Medical detection dogs trained to sniff Covid-19

“This is a serious issue in nations where there is extreme poverty and the problem with a livestock disease like brucellosis is that it takes away income from the people who are vulnerable and in need.

Minister for Africa James Duddridge said: “The UK Government is proud to be supporting research that is not only protecting livestock – and farmers’ livelihoods – from debilitating diseases, but potentially increasing our understanding of how diseases mutate to make the leap from animals to humans.

“These Scottish scientists at the University of Glasgow are leading the way in using innovative ideas to detect diseases faster and at a fraction of the previous cost.”