# The Scent of Disease **URL:** \ **Category:** Studies & Abstracts\ **Created:** [December 23, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501 "2014-12-23T20:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pherochemistry](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/pherochemistry/32/294_2.png) [@Pherochemistry](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Pherochemistry)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/1 "2014-12-23T20:54:18Z")
**Abstract** Observational studies have suggested that with time, some diseases result in a characteristic odor emanating from different sources on the body of a sick individual. Evolutionarily, however, it would be more advantageous if the innate immune response were detectable by healthy individuals as a first line of defense against infection by various pathogens, to optimize avoidance of contagion. We activated the innate immune system in healthy individuals by injecting them with endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide). Within just a few hours, endotoxin-exposed individuals had a more aversive body odor relative to when they were exposed to a placebo. Moreover, this effect was statistically mediated by the individuals? level of immune activation. This chemosensory detection of the early innate immune response in humans represents the first experimental evidence that disease smells and supports the notion of a behavioral immune response that **protects healthy individuals from sick ones by altering patterns of interpersonal contact**. **Citation** Olsson, M.J.; Lundstrom, J.N; Kimball, B.A.; et al. (2014) The scent of disease: Human body odor contains an early chemosensory cue of sickness. Psychological Science, 20:1-7. **Link (Psychological Sciences)** [The Scent of Disease](http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/01/21/0956797613515681) [Tiny Upload - Download files / Download files](http://www.tinyupload.org/gpyrmtovobn) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Dragon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/miss_dragon/32/866_2.png) [@Miss\_Dragon](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Miss_Dragon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/2 "2014-12-23T22:24:13Z")
I’ve read that bees can be trained to detect the smell of specific illnesses, and thus be used as an early diagnostic tool. ---
**Author:** ![Pherochemistry](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/pherochemistry/32/294_2.png) [@Pherochemistry](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Pherochemistry)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/3 "2014-12-23T23:33:58Z")
Really? That’s pretty fascinating - though I’m not sure if I’d personally want to be the subject of that test 😛 I know that there are dogs that have been trained to detect changes in a person’s emotional health, so if they’re suffering from mental illness, the dogs can snap them back out of it. It seems to be a combination of smell and visual perception, since some of the dogs don’t need to face the owner to register emotional changes… > [@Miss\_Dragon](#): > > I’ve read that bees can be trained to detect the smell of specific illnesses, and thus be used as an early diagnostic tool. ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_F](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/brian_f/32/1573_2.png) [@Brian\_F](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Brian_F)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/4 "2014-12-24T02:25:12Z")
5 minute snippets. Sorry no time to cite all sources atm! [You smell or you die.](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/you-smell-or-you-die/62959) Urinalysis pre 50’s used to be doctor smells or tastes your pee. Oscar the cat predicts death in Rhode Island convalescent home, likely by smell. [Oscar (therapy cat) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_(therapy_cat)) Patrick Suskind’s novel Perfume is about a serial murderer with no perceptible body odor, who got off on the perfume of death. [Perfume (novel) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume_(novel)) Maybe I shouldn’t have ended on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Dragon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/miss_dragon/32/866_2.png) [@Miss\_Dragon](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Miss_Dragon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 5:56am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/5 "2014-12-24T05:56:53Z")
> [@Brian\_F](#): > > Urinalysis pre 50’s used to be doctor smells or tastes your pee. Those doctors all died. Just sayin. ---
**Author:** ![Pherochemistry](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/pherochemistry/32/294_2.png) [@Pherochemistry](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Pherochemistry)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/6 "2014-12-25T02:30:18Z")
Ah yes, Perfume. My girlfriend’s read it and tells me snippets about it…really gory stuff to read 😛 > [@Brian\_F](#): > > 5 minute snippets. Sorry no time to cite all sources atm! > > [You smell or you die.](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/you-smell-or-you-die/62959) > > Urinalysis pre 50’s used to be doctor smells or tastes your pee. > > Oscar the cat predicts death in Rhode Island convalescent home, likely by smell. [Oscar (therapy cat) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_(therapy_cat)) > > Patrick Suskind’s novel Perfume is about a serial murderer with no perceptible body odor, who got off on the perfume of death. [Perfume (novel) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume_(novel)) > > Maybe I shouldn’t have ended on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_F](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/brian_f/32/1573_2.png) [@Brian\_F](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Brian_F)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/7 "2014-12-27T04:00:14Z")
@Dragon: LOL. Or did they just move to the developing world? Immortality? Pee is sterile and filled with B-Vitamins and Hormones! It’s the anti aging elixir of the next century! @PChemistry: I think girlfriends are good for that. “Here, gal. Read this scary novel. I will be behind this rock…Waiting to protect you of course.” Supposedly the movie is very true to form! I haven’t seen it yet. I’ll make sure the girlfriend does first. Or… [Sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety](http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/30/4/510/). ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_F](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/brian_f/32/1573_2.png) [@Brian\_F](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Brian_F)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 9:14am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/8 "2014-12-27T09:14:37Z")
[You can now lie in a box and relive what Diana’s death smelled like](http://www.thejournal.ie/smell-of-death-university-1852701-Dec2014/?utm_source=facebook_short) A Dutch university has recreated the smell and sounds of celebrity deaths. And that happened. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Dragon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/miss_dragon/32/866_2.png) [@Miss\_Dragon](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Miss_Dragon)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 11:37am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/9 "2014-12-27T11:37:21Z")
> [@Brian\_F](#): > > @Dragon: LOL. Or did they just move to the developing world? Immortality? Pee is sterile and filled with B-Vitamins and Hormones! It’s the anti aging elixir of the next century! Correlation does not imply causation! 😉 > [@](#): > > A Dutch university has recreated the smell and sounds of celebrity deaths. Wow. I just learned a new meaning for the word “wrong”. ---
**Author:** ![mrseeker](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/mrseeker/32/5177_2.png) [@mrseeker](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/mrseeker)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/10 "2014-12-27T22:09:46Z")
> [@Miss\_Dragon](#): > > Wow. I just learned a new meaning for the word “wrong”. Trust me, the dutch are known for doing things “wrong”. 😃 Not sure if its in our nature or if it is just some sort of curiosity. I have that same tendency, sometimes OD’ing to try out new [pheromones](https://pheromonelabs.com/shop/). When I say that the Dutch are pretty open in things that Americans find disgusting, then you know how we value research 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pherochemistry](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/pherochemistry/32/294_2.png) [@Pherochemistry](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Pherochemistry)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/the-scent-of-disease/63501/11 "2014-12-29T20:21:53Z")
Well, now I don’t feel Dr. Kary Mullis’ idea of putting DNA of dead celebrities in necklaces was such a bad idea… [A Hunk of Burnin’ Love on a Chain : Weird science: Nobel laureate Kary Mullis has a new ‘discovery’ for us–jewelry that preserves the DNA of Elvis . . . and lots of other dead folks. - Los Angeles Times](http://articles.latimes.com/1995-10-19/news/ls-58742_1_laureate-kary-mullis)