Sometimes science is awesome, and then sometimes is a total game changer!
A study recently came out that shows some diseases can be detected just by smelling a person’s breath. Right now, they’re working with dogs, who have ruff-ly 295 million more scent receptors than humans, to create a handheld device which hospitals can use to screen for illness, including some kinds of cancer!
There’s also a chip that can be put into phones and will detect diseases just by you breathing on the screen!
Science is AH-Mazing, right?!
But if you have a strong sense of smell it’s still possible for you to detect them too! Here’s what you’re looking for:
A person with diabetes will have breath that smells like
Acetone, or nail polish remover.
For an anaerobic infection, smell sweat or skin for the scent of rotten apples.
Bladder infections can be detected when urine smells like ammonia, or window cleaner.
Liver failure will cause a person’s breath to smell like raw fish.
If sweat smells like freshly plucked feathers, then the person could have Rubella, or the measles.
Schizophrenia could cause the sweat to smell mildly acidic, like vinegar.
If a person’s body smells like stale beer, they didn’t just have a long night, it could be Scrofula, or tuberculosis of the lymph nodes.
Typhoid will make the skin smell like freshly baked brown bread.
No, you’re not in a butcher’s shop, but you may be near someone who has yellow fever.
[Image via Heinz.]