February 2009 Newsletter

Contents

•

Introduction

•

344 Patients saved by Rats in 2008

•

Center of Excellence Update from Roger Abrantes

•

Meet a Mine Detection Rat Handler in Mozambique: Zacharia fromMozambique

•

Support APOPO's Work

Introduction

We hope your year is off to a great start! Here at APOPO we are enjoying a year full of new beginnings and look forward to conquering new challengesand creating new solutions in Tanzania and Mozambique. First and foremost, we wish to thank all of our dedicated supporters for your continuous backing. Without your encouragement and contributions, the work of our HeroRATs would not be possible. We look forward to seeing all we can accomplishtogether this year!In Tanzania, the HeroRATs have been busy working as usual—training, breeding, and researching Tuberculosis detection. 11 rats passed their finalstages of training in December bringing the total to 53 fully trained minedetection rats in 2008! We were also blessed with ten new baby rats in our breeding program last month. We are looking forward to seeing thosenumbers increase in the coming year.In the Tuberculosis detection program, the HeroRATs were able to identify 344 patients over the last year that were missed by human lab technicians!Those patients were contacted again by the hospitals and are now receiving

treatment.Throughout 2008 in Mozambique, our HeroRATs found 33 mines and 83Explosive Remnants of War (ERW). Additionally, due to continuous processrefinement by the staff and our Program Director, we have had a giant leap inour clearance capacity; HeroRATs can now clear 2,000 square meters every day. In this issue, you will also have the opportunity to learn more about oneof our mine detection rat handlers in Mozambique, Zacharia. Part of our planfor the new year is to develop Tanzania as the Center of Excellence in ratdetection technology. By developing, promoting and managing high quality standards of rat detection technology, we will not only continue to produce thehighest quality services for our stakeholders, the citizens in the countries in which we work, but also increase our potential for impact by training others touse our HeroRAT detection technology, subsequently clearing more land andeliminating landmine terror on a broader scale.In this issue of the HeroRATs Newsletter, Roger Abrantes will introduce youto one of APOPO’s first steps to work towards becoming this Center of Excellence: The APOPO Handbook for Trainers. We are very excited to sharethe development of this important step to standardize the training proceduresof the HeroRATs to insure quality detection reaches those who need it most.In other exciting news, Exmoor Zoo in Barnstable, England hosted a first everHeroRAT Day to promote the work of our HeroRATs. The day was such asuccess that the zoo was recognized for their efforts with The Best EducationProject Award in the 2008 BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) Awards. Many thanks for your enthusiasm, and congratulationsto Exmoor Zoo! As we look back at a year of many achievements, we look forward to new beginnings and sharing 2009’s achievements with you. To thefuture, and what we can accomplish together!

344 Patients saved by Rats in 2008

Last year our HeroRATs detected 344 cases of Tuberculosis that were missed by human lab technicians. Since our HeroRATs are still completing the validation study that will allow us to be a first screening test for Tuberculosis(meaning people will come to the rats first), we currently offer 4 hospitals inDar es Salaam, Tanzania a second analysis of the sputum samples they have

already screened.For those unfamiliar with Tuberculosis testing, sputum samples are a mixtureof saliva and mucus or phlegm that is produced orally. The current methodfor Tuberculosis testing is for a lab technician to analyse the sputum sample with a microscope. They make a slide of the sample and look for the bacteriafound in Tuberculosis. As you can imagine, thoroughly and correctly analyzing the samples is a long process. This is why the World HealthOrganization suggests a lab technician should only be able to screen amaximum of 40 samples a day, in order to screen each sample properly. Butthere is a high rate of error in this method; this is where our HeroRATs enterthe picture and act as a second check of the samples.Four rats test every sample that comes into our laboratory to insure theutmost reliability in detection. If one out of the four rats indicates that anegative sputum sample contains TB, then an APOPO lab technician double-checks the sample (via microscopy as in the hospitals) to confirm thediagnosis. The rats are usually right, and because they are right, 344 peoplethis year will be able to get treatment and live longer, healthier lives. (To seethe rats at work detecting TB in sputum samples, we invite you to check outour video on the website here).The detection of those 344 people affects far more than the 344 people thathave TB. TB is an airborne disease that is spread when an infected personcoughs, sneezes or spits near another person. Therefore it is a very contagiousand rapidly spreading disease, especially in densely populated areas with poor ventilation. A person with an active, untreated case of TB can infect 15 peopleevery single year! As more and more people go undetected, the problem growsexponentially as unknowing people infect others. However, if people with TBknow that they are infected, they can begin treatment and cease to becontagious. In the next year alone, 5,160 people have been protected fromdeveloping TB because the HeroRATs have detected 344 TB positive people!This rate of transmission makes the 344 additional people that were detecteda huge accomplishment, and we continue to detect missed individuals, with 41new patients detected in January alone!