One of the most unpleasant consequences of having passed the Covid-19 is the loss of taste and smell. Fortunately, “anosmia” (the name by which this condition is called) is one of the less common consequences: only 4 out of 10 patients have suffered it during the pandemic, according to the ISCIII EneCOVID seroprevalence study.
Anosmia usually appears during the first week of illness, and may be accompanied by fever and cough. It is not yet known for sure how long this condition lasts because there are people who last longer and others who last less. The study published in JAMA Network assures that 80% of those affected manage to recover their taste and smell spontaneously after four weeks.
However, other patients take longer to recover and may suffer from anosmia for a few months. This can translate into a situation of frustration, since the perception of taste is totally distorted, so many flavors become repulsive.
Why does anosmia occur?
There is still no consensus among the scientific community on the reason for this loss of smell and taste in Covid-19 patients. There is a study that points out two possible causes:
- Due to nasal inflammation, mucosal edema and airflow obstruction to the olfactory rhyme.
- Due to the infection and inflammation of the olfactory mucosa, which leads to the development of neurodegeneration of the olfactory neuroepithelium.
Dr. Ángeles Fortea, specialist in Otorhinolaryngology at Hospital Clínica Benidorm, points out that “we do not know if it is due to the local nasal lesion or because the olfactory bulb is reached Central Nervous System. Some publication collects studies in animals in which they show the predilection of the SARSCOV2 virus with the ACE2 receptors of the lung, which are also present in the nasal epithelium ”.
Is there a way to regain taste and smell?
So far there is no effective therapy that helps to overcome the anosmia produced by Covid-19. However, affected people can carry out a kind of olfactory training to recover both senses more quickly. This has been devised by a team of researchers and published in the International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology magazine.
This training consists of sniffing Four things that have a very characteristic smell and that are very different from each other. It should be practiced a few times a day for several months to ensure its effectiveness.
You can try in the morning, using deep breaths, to smell an orange, a few coffee beans, a few garlic cloves and a few mint leaves, and repeat the process at night. This training is based on the neuroplasticity, that is, in the brain’s ability to reorganize itself and thus compensate for a change or injury.
According to the article published in the magazine IFAR, 90% of people manage to regain their sense of smell after six months.
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