Parkinson’s disease is a neurological condition characterized by difficulty moving, fixed facial expressions, tremulousness, slow speech, and even dementia in the form of “Lewy Body Disease.”
A 72-year-old woman from Scotland who has a genetic condition associated with an extremely sensitive sense of smell can actually smell people who have Parkinson’s disease. Scientists in England tested her abilities on a group of patients to see if she was able to correctly detect Parkinson’s on the shirts of those individuals who had the disease. Specifically, she was asked to smell several shirts from both people with and without Parkinson’s. She was not only spot on and detected those who had and did not have Parkinson’s, she actually smelled Parkinson’s on an individual who did not have Parkinson’s but developed it 8 months later. She described the scent as “musty” and noted that while out and about doing her shopping, she can detect people who have it but does not inform them as instructed by medical ethicists.
As a result of this phenomenon, scientists found that the oils in the skin called sebum to have a different smell in those with Parkinson’s. As a result, scientists identified the molecules specific to Parkinson’s which cause the scent and are developing a test where they swab the neck of those with suspected Parkinson’s. Specifically, they can analyze the sebum with mass spectrometry (which provides the weight of molecules and subsequent identification). This could be a potential breakthrough given there is currently no diagnostic test for Parkinson’s which is thus diagnosed based on medical history and symptoms.
The benefits are, as with other diseases, early detection can lead to early interventions such as rapid referral to a specialist, prescription medications, and non-prescription remedies such as diet and exercise, which can possibly delay the full onset/progression and lead to an improved quality of life.
What is interesting is that some mammals such as dogs have a structure called Jacobson’s organ which allows them to smell certain large molecules such as pheromones and some can even detect melanomas and other diseases.
In full disclosure, while digesting this information, I thought about what it would be like telling the patient that a stranger would be coming into the room to smell them. It would probably take a while to catch on which is why I’m glad scientists in the UK are developing a swab test. And of course, my mind went further and wondered what title they would have (I’m leaning toward “Pathological Olfactory Specialist” or “Scentologist.” In the medical world, we have to make even the most mundane things have an impressive, erudite name. I suppose that would be an improvement as “The Smell Lady” and “The Sniffer” might not go over as well). I also wondered if they would have to be on call and if they needed a respite from olfactory sense overload. In other words, do they get burnout as people do in a scented candle section of a store? The woman from Scotland noted she could not walk down the perfume sections of stores due to the hyperacuity of her smell, so they would probably need a break.
I imagine smelling so many people could be exhausting (not that I go around smelling my patients like a curious puppy), but I’m glad it is leading to the skin swab which is far more clinically sound and professional. I will keep you up to date on this issue and if this woman or those like her with a hypersensitive olfactory sense can detect other diseases such as cancer.
