Woman who can 'smell Parkinson's disease' helps scientific breakthrough

A woman’s hyper-sensitive sense of smell has helped scientists 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 which gives her a heightened sense of smell. She noticed that her late husband Les developed a different odour when he was 33 – some 12 years before he was diagnosed with the disease, which leads to parts of the brain becoming progressively damaged over many years.

Mrs Milne, dubbed ‘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.

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Years later, academics at the University of Manchester have made a breakthrough by developing a test which 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 whether someone has the disease.

While 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 currently no definitive test for Parkinson’s disease, with diagnosis based on a patient’s symptoms and medical history.

If the new skin swab is successful outside laboratory conditions it could be rolled out to achieve faster diagnosis. Mrs Milne told the PA news agency that it was “not