Could dogs sniff out Parkinson’s disease?

Researchers claim that dogs can be trained to detect the specific scent of people with Parkinson’s disease, with an accuracy rate of over 80%. Photo: AFP

Dogs are well-known for their sense of smell, which can enable them, with training, to identify people with a wide range of diseases, including cancer, malaria and Covid-19. A new study reveals more about canines’ extraordinary ability to detect human pathologies.

This research, published on pre-publication site bioRxiv, focuses on Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative pathology characterised by the progressive demise of brain cells essential to the proper functioning of the entire body.