Joy Milne who can sniff out Parkinson's Disease leads to pioneering research

Home Top

EXCLUSIVE: Designer Donna Karan cheated on her husband for YEARS with married love of her life and was so nervous when she met BFF Barbra Streisand for the first time she had to pop Valium
Hillary celebrates fending off first round of Benghazi questions with crushing 'low-five' handshake with friendly congressman - a former judge who was once impeached by Congress for taking a bribe
First US fatality in the ground fight against ISIS as Special Forces rescue around 70 Iraqi hostages
Beyoncé and Jay Z secretly separated for a year amid Rihanna affair rumours, claims shock new unauthorised biography
Facebook takes aim at Twitter and Google and makes 2 TRILLION public posts searchable (so check your privacy settings)
The brutal Brontes! Emily beat up her pet dog. Charlotte - plain, toothless and dull - was so spiteful children threw stones at her
EXCLUSIVE: I forgave my best friend who killed my toddler - and she was one of the first people to meet the new little girl who has brought healing to our family
Can you crack the INDUS CODE? Scientists baffled by ancient carvings of mysterious civilisation that invented the toilet - and had no army
Disgraced former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle has lawyers hand-deliver checks worth $1million to sex abuse victims
Forecasters reveal 2015's summer was hottest since records began and say El Nino and global warming are to blame
Russian ambassador tweets photograph of a 'rejoicing terrorist'... unaware it is a scene from Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
Former elementary school teacher who was 'obsessed' with her 11-year-old student pleads no contest after she sent 2,400 text messages to the girl
Leave my body alone! Cover-girl Zendaya forces fashion magazine to pull entire issue after she slams them for slimming down her '19-year-old hips and body'
Second batch of emails hacked from CIA director's account reveals he warned of major flaws in US strategy for Afghanistan
Obama vetoes Republican-crafted defense spending bill and sends it back to Congress for a rewrite: 'Let's do this right'
Licence to be sadistic: Yes, he loved it. But our critic admits he's a bit queasy about the way new Bond film Spectre glories in cruelty. Is the money-spinning 007 juggernaut so powerful the censors turn a blind eye?
Making a killing! How 17 different brands linger on screen in new Bond film Spectre and 007 himself 'profits from each endorsement'
'I'll sue Khloe, I know she has the money': Owner of brothel where Lamar Odom was found unconscious after bender vows to go after Kardashian if $79,000 bill is not paid
Lamar Odom 'overdosed on cocaine' claim detectives as reports emerge claiming basketball star has pneumonia and is in a 'fragile mental state' after surgeries
'Ebola nurse' sues New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for over $250,000 in damages for keeping her in his 'private prison'
Two female jail employees 'had sex with prisoners while they were meant to be doing head counts and inmate checks'
Father is left red-faced after his three-year-old daughter makes a VERY embarrassing remark while he's using a public toilet - and Reddit users find it hilarious
Teacher and divorced mother-of-four at the center of controversy over body-building posts which parents have called 'immodest' and 'pornographic'
The evil spirits who visit the sleeping: All too real, they leave sufferers paralysed with terror... now a new documentary reveals the cause

Doctors say Joy Milne, 65, has the unique skills to detect the condition
Mrs Milne can identify Parkinson's just from sniffing their T-shirts
She detected a change in her husband Les's odour over two decade which led to him being diagnosed with Parkinson's

By Colin Fernandez, Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 19:03 EST, 21 October 2015 | Updated: 02:08 EST, 22 October 2015

110

View
comments

A British grandmother has stunned the medical world with her uncanny ability to detect Parkinson's disease – by sniffing.

Doctors say Joy Milne, 65, has the unique skills to detect the crippling condition early – and help preventative treatment.

During lab tests Mrs Milne – dubbed a 'super-smeller' – was able to identify people with Parkinson's just from sniffing T-shirts they had slept in.

Scroll down for video

Doctors say Joy Milne, 65, has the unique skills to detect the crippling condition early – and help preventative treatment

The grandmother-of-seven first detected a change in her husband Les's odour over two decades ago which led to him being diagnosed with Parkinson's.

Les died this year, but it was only when she mentioned her keen smelling ability to University of Edinburgh researchers that she became the inspiration for the new study.

Mrs Milne, from Perth in Scotland, said: 'I've always had a keen sense of smell and I detected very early on that there was a very subtle change in how Les smelled.

'It's hard to describe but it was a heavy, slightly musky aroma.

'I had no idea that this was unusual and hadn't been recognised before.'

Describing how she got in touch with the scientists, she said: 'I was attending a Parkinson's UK research lecture at the University of Edinburgh I mentioned it to the researcher, Dr Tilo Kunath.

'Tilo was interested and together we worked out ways to see if I could detect it from other people with Parkinson's and not just Les.

Scientists believe that the disease may cause a change in the sebum – an oily substance secreted by the skin – that results in a unique and subtle odour only detectable by people with an acute sense of smell

A movement class for elderly people with Parkinson's Disease. Parkinson's disease affects 127,000 people in Britain

'It turned out I could and I am so pleased that Parkinson's UK is funding further research into it.'

Parkinson's disease affects 127,000 people in Britain – around one in 500 of the population – leaving them struggling to walk, speak and sleep. But it has no cure or definitive diagnostic test.

And thanks to Mrs Milne's nose, the charity Parkinson's UK is now funding researchers at Manchester, Edinburgh and London for a study of 200 people to explore the link. They hope to confirm findings from a pilot study by the Universities of Manchester and Edinburgh involving 24 people, which suggested that the condition can be identified by odour alone.

In the latest study, Professor Perdita Barran and her team at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology will take skin swabs from volunteers with and without Parkinson's.

They will then analyse small molecule components – known as meta-bolites – secreted by the skin to try to identify the specific biomarkers found on those with Parkinson's.

They will also be using 'human detectors' – people with exceptional smelling abilities – to pinpoint the unique smell.

Professor Barran said: 'The sampling of the skin surface will provide a rich source of metabolites which we can mine to distinguish healthy patients from those in the early stages of Parkinson's.

'It is hoped that these results could lead to the development of a non-invasive diagnostic test that may have the ability to diagnose early Parkinson's – possibly even before physical symptoms occur.'

Dr Arthur Roach, director of research at Parkinson's UK, added: 'It's very early days in the research, but if it's proved there is a unique odour associated with Parkinson's, particularly early on in the condition, it could have a huge impact.

'Not just on early diagnosis, but it would also make it a lot easier to identify people to test drugs that may have the potential to slow, or even stop Parkinson's, something no current drug can achieve.'