Jo Cameron has a rare gene mutation that makes him feel less pain and heals faster than people in general.

Jo Cameron is a 71 year old woman living in Inverness Scotland. What distinguishes Cameron from other people is that in everyday life, he often does not feel sick even if for example, there are parts of the body that are injured.

Even if he experiences pain, he heals faster than most other people, and also does not experience excessive fear or anxiety as experienced by others. Now scientists have discovered that this is because there are gene mutations in Cameron's body, so what he feels is different from most other people.

When he was 65 years old, Jo Cameron had to undergo surgery because of a serious injury in his hand, but the doctors who handled it only realized that Cameron had never used painkillers at all.

"When (the doctor) found that I never drank (painkillers), he checked my medical history and found that I never asked for painkillers," Jo Cameron told the BBC.

Because the doctors realized that what had happened to Cameron was a strange thing, he was then referred to a pain geneticist at University College London (UCL), who examined his DNA to determine what made him so unique. They then found two strangeness in Jo Cameron's genetic makeup.

First, there is a change in the gene called FAAH, which is the center of regulating pain, mood and memory sensations. The second discovery surprised the researchers even more.

The mutation of Jo Cameron's genes suppresses pain, making Jo Cameron not need a pain reliever.

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This condition is dubbed FAAH-OUT, where some researchers suspect that the gene is a "junk gene" that is not functioning. Now they estimate that FAAH-OUT is a gene that regulates the height of pain, mood and memory in our body.

Inside Cameron's body, this gene mutates so that the arrangement does not run normally. So that Cameron for example does not feel sick even though his skin is on fire, or even if he is injured, he will recover quickly without leaving a scar.

"He reported that he suffered a lot of burns and other wounds without pain, often kissing his burning flesh before he noticed the injury on his body and that these wounds healed quickly with little or no scar," the report said.

"He reported having eaten Scotch Bonnet chili and not experienced any discomfort, except having had the chance to feel a" spicy sensation "in his mouth for a moment.

"He also claimed to have experienced a memory loss that lasted a long time ... He also reported never feeling panic, even in dangerous situations or fears, such as in a road accident that happened recently."

The researchers believe the mutation might be derived from Jo Cameron's father, who also rarely asks for painkillers.

The DNA test results were later published in the British Journal of Anesthesia which revealed two mutations that simultaneously suppressed pain and anxiety and on the other hand increased pleasure, wound healing, and memory loss.

What does the discovery mean?

The researchers say this finding could help highlight the role of genetics in pain management - and believe there might be more people who have the same mutation.

"People with rare sensitivity to pain can be valuable for medical research as we study how their genetic mutations affect how they experience pain," said the study's lead researcher, James Cox.

James Cox said these findings could contribute to clinical research on postoperative pain and anxiety.

Supplied: University College London

"We hope that over time, our findings can contribute to clinical research for postoperative pain and anxiety, and the possibility of chronic pain, PTSD and wound healing, may involve gene therapy techniques."

"The implications for this finding are very large," said Devjit Srivastava, lead author of this paper.

"These findings lead to the discovery of new painkillers that have the potential to offer postoperative pain relief and also accelerate wound healing.

"We hope this can help 330 million patients undergo surgery globally every year."