text: Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Joy Milne was tested by researchers to see if she could detect people with Parkinson's through a tell-tale odour 
   
   Meet the woman from Perth whose super sense of smell could change the way Parkinson's disease is diagnosed. 
   
   Joy Milne's husband, Les, died in June, aged 65. 
   
   He worked as a consultant anaesthetist before being diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 45. 
   
   Image caption Joy first detected the odour on her husband Les, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 45 
   
   One in 500 people in the UK has Parkinson's - that is 127,000 across Britain. 
   
   It can leave people struggling to walk, speak and sleep. There is no cure and no definitive diagnostic test. 
   
   Joy noticed something had changed with her husband long before he was diagnosed - six years before. 
   
   She says: "His smell changed and it seemed difficult to describe. It wasn't all of a sudden. It was very subtle - a musky smell. 
   
   "I got an occasional smell." 
   
   Joy only linked this odour to Parkinson's after joining the charity Parkinson's UK and meeting people with the same distinct odour. 
   
   By complete chance she mentioned this to scientists at a talk. They were intrigued. 
   
   Edinburgh University decided to test her - and she was very accurate. 
   
   Image caption Doctors tested Joy's sense of smell by using t-shirts which had been worn by six people with Parkinson's and six without 
   
   Dr Tilo Kunath, a Parkinson's UK fellow at the school of biological sciences at Edinburgh University, was one of the first scientists Joy spoke to. 
   
   He says: "The first time we tested Joy we recruited six people with Parkinson's and six without. 
   
   "We had them wear a t-shirt for a day then retrieved the t-shirts, bagged them and coded them. 
   
   "Her job was to tell us who had Parkinson's and who didn't. 
   
   "Her accuracy was 11 out of 12. We were quite impressed." 
   
   Dr Kunath adds: "She got the six Parkinson's but then she was adamant one of the 'control' subjects had Parkinson's. 
   
   Image caption Dr Tilo Kunath was impressed with Joy's results and is undertaking further research into the phenomenon 
   
   "But he was in our control group so he didn't have Parkinson's. 
   
   "According to him and according to us as well he didn't have Parkinson's. 
   
   "But eight months later he informed me that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's. 
   
   "So Joy wasn't correct for 11 out of 12, she was actually 12 out of 12 correct at that time. 
   
   "That really impressed us and we had to dig further into this phenomenon." 
   
   And that is exactly what they are doing. 
   
   Scientists believe that changes in the skin of people with early Parkinson's produces a particular odour linked to the condition. 
   
   They hope to find the molecular signature responsible for the odour and then develop a simple test such as wiping a person's forehead with a swab. 
   
   The charity Parkinson's UK is now funding researchers at Manchester, Edinburgh and London to study about 200 people with and without Parkinson's. 
   
   Image caption Katherine Crawford, of Parkinson's UK, said it was an incredibly difficult disease to diagnose 
   
   A simple test for Parkinson's could be life-changing, according to Katherine Crawford, the Scotland director of Parkinson's UK. 
   
   "This study is potentially transformational for the lives of people living with Parkinson's," she says. 
   
   "Parkinson's is an incredibly difficult disease to diagnose. 
   
   "We still effectively diagnose it today the way that Dr James Parkinson diagnosed it in 1817, which is by observing people and their symptoms. 
   
   "A diagnostic test like this could cut through so much of that, enable people to go in and see a consultant, have a simple swab test and come out with a clear diagnosis of Parkinson's. 
   
   "It would be absolutely incredible and life-changing for them immediately." 
   
   Ms Crawford adds: "They and their professional colleagues would be able to discuss and arrange a treatment programme, be able to monitor the progression of the disease and treat it appropriately as it went on and it would potentially offer more opportunities for people living with Parkinson's to get involved in research." 
   
   It might have been an accidental discovery but Joy hopes it will make a real difference to people starting out on their own journey with Parkinson's. ||||| A ribbons molecular model of Botulinum Toxin, commonly known as Botox. This protein produced by the botulism bacteria is highly neurotoxic. Yet it's commonly used in cosmetic surgery. 
   
   In Madagascar, about 500 people every year contract the plague. 
   
   The widow of a man who suffered with Parkinson’s has triggered new research this week into the condition after she discovered she could “smell” the disease. 
   
   Joy Milne, 65, told researchers that she had noticed a change in the odor of her late husband, Les, years before he developed symptoms of Parkinson’s. 
   
   He passed away from the disease, a nervous system disorder whose symptoms include shaking and slowness of movement, earlier this year at the age of 65. 
   
   12 Diseases That Just Won't Quit 
   
   Play Video Is a Killer Virus Out There? Virus hunter Dr. Ian Lipkin explains how they track down dangerous bugs. iStockPhoto 
   
   “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,” Milne, from Perth, Scotland, said on Thursday. 
   
   “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 recognized before.” 
   
   About one in 500 people suffers from Parkinson’s, a degenerative illness that is difficult to diagnose and for which there is no cure. 
   
   She went on to tell researchers, who dubbed her “super-smeller” after finding that she could identify Parkinson’s sufferers from T-shirts they had slept in. 
   
   5 Disease Outbreaks Linked to Vaccine-Shy Parents 
   
   Milne made the connection between the smell and the disease after picking up the same scent from other sufferers. 
   
   That prompted research charity Parkinson’s UK to this week launch a project to find whether the disease and odor are linked. 
   
   “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,” said Arthur Roach, director of research at the charity. 
   
   “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.” 
   
   Robin Williams: Is Parkinson's Disease Linked to Suicide? 
   
   Researchers are investigating whether the condition triggers changes in sebum, an oily substance secreted by skin, and aim to recruit 200 people with and without the condition for the study. 
   
   Swabs taken from them will be analyzed by machine at the molecular level, and will also be scrutinized by Milne and a team of smell experts from the food and drink industry.
target: – Joy Milne noticed a small difference in her husband just before he turned 40. "His smell changed," the Scottish woman tells the BBC. "It wasn't all of a sudden. It was very subtle—a musky smell." He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease six years later and died in June at age 65. Milne found herself supporting the Parkinson's UK charity, where she noticed others had the same distinct smell. She happened to mention her observation to scientists at a talk, and they later put her to the test, presenting her with T-shirts worn by six people with Parkinson's and six without. "She got the six Parkinson's, but then she was adamant one of the 'control' subjects had Parkinson's," says a scientist. Researchers were impressed and dubbed her a "super-smeller," per AFP. Then eight months later, that one control subject returned to tell scientists he had just been diagnosed with Parkinson's. Because of Milne's sniffer, scientists now theorize that changes in the sebum—an oily substance produced by the skin—may occur in people with early Parkinson's. Now Parkinson's UK is funding a study that will see swabs taken from 200 people with and without Parkinson's and studied by a team of smell experts, including Milne. The swabs will also be studied chemically. A proven link between an odor and the disease could make for an easy and clear way to identify a disease that is "incredibly difficult ... to diagnose," as the Scotland director of Parkinson's UK puts it. "It would be absolutely incredible and life-changing." Currently, doctors diagnose the disease largely as they have for the last two centuries: by observing a patient and his or her symptoms. (The human nose really is amazing.)