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The loss of smell that can accompany the coronavirus is unique and different from that experienced by a person with a cold or the flu, say European researchers who have studied the experiences of patients.
When Covid-19 patients have a loss of odor, it tends to be sudden and severe.
And they don’t usually have a stuffy, stuffy, or runny nose – most people with coronavirus can still breathe freely.
Another thing that sets them apart is their “real” loss of taste.
It’s not that their taste is altered somewhat because their sense of smell is disabled, researchers from the journal Rhinology say. Coronavirus patients with loss of taste really can’t tell the difference between bitter or sweet.
Experts suspect this is because the pandemic virus attacks nerve cells directly involved in smell and taste.
The main symptoms of the coronavirus are:
- high temperature
- new cough continues
- loss of smell or taste
Anyone with these symptoms should self-isolate and take a swab test to check if they are infected with the virus. Members of their household should also self-isolate to avoid possible spread.
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Odor search
Lead researcher Professor Carl Philpott, University of East Anglia, performed smell and taste tests on 30 volunteers: 10 with Covid-19, 10 with a bad cold and 10 healthy people without cold or flu symptoms.
The loss of odor was much deeper in the Covid-19 patents. They were less able to identify smells, and they were not at all able to discern bitter or sweet tastes.
Professor Philpott, who works with the Fifth Sense charity, which was established to help people with odor and taste disorders, said: “There really seem to be some distinguishing features that set the coronavirus apart from other respiratory viruses.
“This is very exciting because it means that smell and taste tests could be used to distinguish between patients with Covid-19 and those with a cold or the flu.”
He said people can do their own smell and taste tests at home using products like coffee, garlic, oranges or lemons and sugar.
He stressed that throat and nose diagnostic tests were always essential if anyone believed they had coronavirus.
The senses of smell and taste return within weeks in most people recovering from coronavirus, he added.
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Professor Andrew Lane is an expert on nose and sinus problems at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
He and his team studied tissue samples from the back of the nose to understand how the coronavirus could cause odor loss and published the results in the European Respiratory Journal.
They identified extremely high levels of an enzyme that was only present in the area of the nose responsible for smell.
This enzyme, called ACE-2 (angiotensin II converting enzyme), is believed to be the “entry point” that allows the coronavirus to enter cells in the body and cause infection.
The nose is one of the places where Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, enters the body.
Professor Lane said: “We are now doing other lab experiments to see if the virus is actually using these cells to access and infect the body.
“If this is the case, we may be able to fight the infection with antiviral therapies delivered directly through the nose.”
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