Joy Milne – a 65-year-old British grandmother from Perth – has been able to demonstrate the ability to detect Parkinson’s disease through her sense of smell.

Following a medical research trial in lab tests, she was able to tell that an individual had Parkinson’s simply by smelling the clothing they had slept in.

Mrs Milne informed University of Edinburgh researchers that she had been able to smell the same odour on her husband Les’s clothes over two decades ago, years after no presence of the scent, and he was then later diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Following the research, the team concluded that she could detect the condition among a wider sample of people, which means there is a potential link between scent and ability to predict the condition.

As a result, this means that early indication could be a possibility in the near future, which could also lead to an individual receiving treatment sooner.

Mrs Milne, said: “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.

“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 recognised before.”

Mrs Milne attended a research lecture at the University of Edinburgh, which is where she first got the chance to mention her heightened sense of smell in relation to Parkinson’s to Dr Tilo Kunath.

Following the results, Parkinson’s UK is now funding researchers at Manchester, Edinburgh and London to investigate the link in a 200-people study.