Illustrated News
Woman who can smell parkinsons helps creating a new test
November 13, 2022
Summary
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.
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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.
[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/07/woman-who-can-smell-parkinsons-helps-scientists-develop-test](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/07/woman-who-can-smell-parkinsons-helps-scientists-develop-test)