Dogs can be trained to identify individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) by sniffing out a disease-specific odor in skin swabs with up to 98% specificity and 80% sensitivity, a recent study suggested.

The findings may help inform key biomarkers for PD before symptoms appear. There is currently no single diagnostic test for PD, and reported estimates show roughly a quarter of patients are misdiagnosed.

“Sensitivity levels of 70% and 80% are well above chance, and I believe that dogs could help us to develop a quick noninvasive, and cost-effective method to identify patients with Parkinson’s disease,” lead investigator Nicola Rooney, associate professor at Bristol Veterinary School at the University of Bristol, Bristol, England, said in a news release .

The study was published online

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