Before modern pregnancy tests emerged, women found out if they were expecting a child through unconventional methods.
It’s hard to believe, but for many decades, before modern pregnancy tests emerged, women found out if they were pregnant through… frogs! The technique consisted of injecting the woman’s urine into a toad or frog and, if the animal subsequently released eggs, it meant that the result was positive. Understand what to do when the pregnancy test is positive. And as absurd as it may seem, in the 20th century the method had an efficiency rate that was considered good. Bizarre, right? So, if you want to know more about unconventional pregnancy tests, keep reading the article.
Learn how to identify pregnancy without symptoms.
Grain tests
In the mid-1350s BC, the first searches for a method to detect pregnancy began. During this period, a medical document written in Ancient Egypt recommended that women mix their urine with barley and wheat grains to see if the suspicion would be confirmed. If they sprouted after some time, it meant that she was really expecting a child. It does not stop there! The Egyptians also identified the baby’s sex through grains. If the sprouts were just barley, it was a boy. If the wheat grew, she would be a girl.
Animal testing
Firstly, rats and mice were used for pregnancy tests. At the time, German scientists Selmar Aschheim and Bernhard Zondek observed that applying urine from pregnant women to rodents that had not reached sexual maturity stimulated the release of eggs in them. However, the same did not happen when the injected pee was from a non-pregnant woman. In other words, the main difference was in the presence of the famous hormone HCG. Understand what Beta HCG is and how it works.
In this sense, the method became known as the AZ test, in reference to scholars. However, unlike today, there was zero practicality! It was necessary to inject urine into at least five rats and wait around seven days to find out the result.
Those who also started to participate in tests like this years later were the rabbits, as they were bigger. But, although the animal’s size made it easier to see the ovaries, they were then sacrificed. As a result of this, the test was only used in very specific cases.
Now you must be wondering where toads and frogs fit into this story, right? Unlike rabbits, these amphibians release eggs into the wild. Therefore, they did not need to be sacrificed. In this way, urine was injected into the animals and, in case of pregnancy, Beta HCG stimulated the release of eggs.
Read also: Best pregnancy test: find out the types and which one to choose
Use of the technique in Brazil
Believe it or not, the technique was also used here in our country. However, the tests focused on male frogs. The result was positive if, after applying the woman’s urine, they expelled sperm for the next three hours. This practice gave rise to a new profession: frog hunter.
So, did you already know any of these tests? If you liked this article, read also: Are home pregnancy tests really reliable?
Fonte: BBC NEWS
