Inspired by the story of a woman who "could smell" that her husband had become ill before he was formally diagnosed with Parkinson's, scientists at the University of Manchester have developed an astonishing new test for the neurological illness.
The new test could help diagnose Parkinson's in just three minutes by using a skin swab. The test looks for changes in the oily layer that protects the skin - that's called the sebum. The illness affects brain function and mobility, and has no known cure.
It does this using mass spectrometry - which identifies compounds based on weight.
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The idea of doing this was inspired by the hyper-sensitive sense of smell that Joy Milne has. Joy found she had the ability to "smell" the disease after her husband was diagnosed aged just 45. The Perth woman's observations led to the study - funded by Parkinson's UK which showed there could be chemical changes in that oily layer between those who had Parkinson's and those who didn't.
In this study, the team studied cotton swab samples from the back of the neck of 79 people with Parkinson’s and 71 people without it. The research found 500 compounds that were unique to people with Parkinson’s - these could help diagnose the condition.
Dr Beckie Port, Head of Research at Parkinson’s UK, said: "Currently there is no definitive diagnostic test for Parkinson’s which can lead to misdiagnosis and delays in treatments. The prospect that there could be a way of diagnosing the condition that takes just a matter of minutes and does not need invasive tests or samples is very exciting.
"The tests may also allow us to monitor progression of Parkinson's which means they could be used to support ongoing research into a cure, measuring the effectiveness of new treatments in trials."
The next step for this test is to see if it can be used in clinical settings and to test its accuracy at actually diagnosing those with the debilitating neurological illness.
Joy Milne has previously spoken about how she noticed the scent of her husband had changed. Les was diagnosed at 45, but Joy noticed a difference in his smell many years before that.
However, she never considered that the musky smell had any connection to his condition until the couple met others with the illness. She said: "It daw ned on me that every person with Parkinson’s that I met had the same unique, musky odour as Les… and I realised it was the condition itself I could smell.
“I was surprised to find that no one had made the connection before — but when I mentioned it to a researcher from the University of Edinburgh he was intrigued."
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