Scientists have harnessed the power of a woman’s hyper-sensitive sense of smell to develop a test to determine whether people have Parkinson’s disease.
The test has been years in the making after academics realised that Joy Milne could smell the condition. The 72-year-old from Perth, Scotland, has a rare condition that gives her a heightened sense of smell.
She noticed that her late husband, Les, developed a different odour when he was 33 – 12 years before he was diagnosed with the disease, which leads to parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years.
Milne, nicknamed “the woman who can smell Parkinson’s”, described a musky aroma, different from his normal scent.
Her observation piqued the interest of scientists who decided to research what she could smell, and whether this could be harnessed to help identify people with the neurological condition.
Years later, academics at the University of Manchester have made a breakthrough by developing a test that can identify people with Parkinson’s disease using a simple cotton bud run along the back of the neck.
Researchers can examine the sample to identify molecules linked to the disease to help diagnose if someone has it.
Though still in the early phases of research, scientists are excited about the prospect of the NHS being able to deploy a simple test for the disease.
There is no definitive test for Parkinson’s and diagnosis is based on a patient’s symptoms and medical history.
If the skin swab is successful outside laboratory conditions it could be rolled out to achieve faster diagnosis.