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Editor’s Note: Julie Walsh-Messinger is a clinical psychologist who studies the effects of long-term odor loss. Her research has focused on odor loss in people with severe and persistent mental illnesses, but since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, she has also studied odor loss caused by COVID-19. In this interview, she explains how COVID-19 can affect your sense of smell, the effects of long-term loss of smell, and resources that can help you.
How does COVID-19 affect the sense of smell?
COVID-19 isn’t the only virus that affects our ability to smell, but it’s unique in the way it does so. For example, the common cold causes an inflammatory response in the nose, and this builds up mucus which reduces your ability to smell, making it feel muffled.
What is unique about COVID-19 is that it is not actually the nasal congestion or the nasal inflammatory response that causes the loss of smell. The virus actually crosses the blood-brain barrier and enters the nervous system. It affects the nervous system and the neural connections necessary to detect and interpret the smell.
How does this affect people in the long run?
COVID-19 affects the nervous system and sometimes results in profound loss or a complete inability to smell. Some people regain their ability to smell in a matter of days or weeks, but for some people it lasts much longer. Scientists still don’t know how many people lose their ability to smell completely, a condition known as anosmia.
It really wreaks havoc on people who haven’t had their sense of smell, sometimes for months or even over a year at this point. This can have real consequences. For example, if you can’t smell smoke, you rely on a smoke detector to tell you there is a fire. It also affects the quality of life. Food doesn’t taste good anymore because the way you experience taste is actually a combination of smell, taste, and even sense of touch. Some people report weight loss due to loss of appetite, and they just aren’t able to enjoy things that they previously found enjoyable.
What are some functions of our sense of smell that we do not think about often?
Our sense of smell is really important for everyday functions. Research suggests that our sense of smell can subconsciously influence our attraction to certain people. This is one of the ways we select mates who are less genetically like us, which can be of reproductive benefit. It can also help us detect fear in others, which is important for survival.
It is a sense that subtly directs many of the decisions we make on a daily basis but of which we are not consciously aware.
What are the resources for people with anosmia?
There are resources available for people with loss of smell and taste, although some of these are not just related to COVID-19. The Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research is a group of scientists who came together very quickly in the spring of 2020 to study the effects of smell and taste loss. You can participate in our research so that we can learn more about what is causing this problem and how to deal with it. There are links to many other resources on the site.
There are also people and organizations that do odor training. Odor training is basically all about smelling the same smells over and over again so that you can retrain your body’s ability to sense and identify that odor. We are optimistic that the sense of smell will return for some people who lose their sense of smell for several months. One of the groups involved in odor training is the non-profit Abscent. It was not specifically designed for patients with COVID-19, but was a pioneer in odor training.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Julie Walsh-Messinger, University of Dayton.
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Julie Walsh-Messinger does not work, consult, own stock, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has not disclosed any relevant affiliation beyond her academic appointment. .
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