Joy Milne, 72, came across as a crackpot when she claimed she ‘smelled’ Parkinson’s disease on her late husband. Until scientists prove her right and develop, thanks to her, a revolutionary test to detect the disease.
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A smell “musky”, “different” : it is on her husband that she detects it for the first time. Twelve years later, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Joy Milne is now 72 years old, her husband is dead but her fight continues. If the disease is detected earlier, the treatment is more effective.
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Obviously, she first passes for an illuminated until scientists test her sense of smell. They submit several T-shirts to him, some worn by patients. She is faultless. Except one. She puts him away with the positive cases when the doctors found nothing in his home. Eight months later, the diagnosis, based on symptoms and history, confirms what she had felt.
The researchers end up finding molecules linked to the disease in sebum, this oily substance produced by the skin and which could change its smell. Today, they have developed a skin test, like a cotton swab that just needs to be passed along the back of the neck. It is now necessary to confirm these experiments carried out in the laboratory before considering a generalization of this test.