Scientists are close to establishing what causes a smell associated with sufferers of Parkinson’s disease. They hope it could lead to the first diagnostic test for the disease. The breakthrough came after Joy Milne astonished doctors with her ability to detect the disease through smell under scientific conditions.
A team from Manchester has found distinctive molecules that seem to be concentrated on the skin of Parkinson’s patients. One in 500 people in the UK has Parkinson’s – that is 127,000 across Britain.
It can leave them struggling to walk, speak and sleep. Currently there is no definitive test for the disease, with clinicians diagnosing patients by observing symptoms.
This is how the disease has been diagnosed since 1817, when James Parkinson first established it as a recognised medical condition.