May 31, 2023
This Woman Feels No Pain. Decoding Her DNA Could Bring Relief to Millions
Posted by Josh Seeherman in categories: biotech/medical, genetics
Jo Cameron is a 75-year-old Scottish woman who has gone through life without experiencing significant pain of any kind. Even major surgery and childbirth failed to deliver the discomfort most of us would experience.
According to an interview with the BBC in 2019, Cameron only knows her skin is burning if she smells or sees it. To her, suffering is nothing more than an abstract concept.
The quirk that Cameron was born with is shared with just a few other people in th e world. Called congenital analgesia, it is a one-in-a-million condition with multiple genetic causes that may come with other symptoms, such as sweating more or having no sense of smell.