Dogs could sniff out Parkinson’s years before disease develops

DOGS could be used to sniff out Parkinson’s disease years before symptoms start to show.

Scientists are trying to discover which odour molecules are linked to the disease so that dogs can be trained to spot the illness. Researchers at Manchester University first began to believe Parkinson’s might have a discernible odour when a woman in Perth, Scotland, with a highly sensitive sense of smell claimed she detected a change in the odour of her husband six years before he was diagnosed with the condition. Joy Milne claimed her husband’s smell changed subtly years before any difficulty with movement started to emerge.

When researchers conducted tests with Mrs Milne they found she was able to identify people living with Parkinson’s from people without the condition by smelling skin swabs taken from both groups. In one case, Mrs Milne identified an individual who had Parkinson’s but at the time had not been diagnosed with the condition, because they had no symptoms.

Dogs have been trained in the past to detect cancer, and now Manchester University and Medical Detection Dogs, the research charity, have joined together in a study that will use dogs to test skin swabs for Parkinson’s using their extraordinary sense of smell. It is estimated that the percentage of a dog’s brain devoted to analysing odours is 40 times larger than that of a human

“The full potential of dogs to detect human disease is just beginning to be understood,” said Claire Guest, chief executive of Medical Detection Dogs. “If all diseases have an odour, which we have reason to believe they do, we can use dogs to identify them.

“Dogs have 300 million smell receptors in their noses compared to our mere five million. They are first-rate biosensors and their ability to help us make important scientific advances should not be dismissed on account of their waggy tails and fluffy coats.”