[ad_1]
People with “long COVID” report a strong smell of fish, sulfur, and a sweet foul odor, while other symptoms of the virus appear.
The unusual side effect is known as parosmia – which means a distortion of the sense of smell – and can disproportionately affect young people and healthcare workers.
Ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon Professor Nirmal Kumar called the symptom “very strange and very unique”.
The aroma of burnt toast and sulfur has also been reported
Professor Kumar, who is also president of ENT UK, was among the first doctors to identify anosmia – loss of odor – as an indicator of coronavirus in March.
He urged Public Health England to add it to the symptom list months before it becomes an official directive.
He has now noted that among the thousands of patients treated for long-term anosmia in the UK, some suffer from parosmia.
“This morning I saw two patients with parosmia,” Prof Kumar told the PA News Agency.
“One said he could smell fish instead of any other scent, and the other could smell burnt when there was no smoke around.
“Both are healthcare workers, and we believe there is an increased incidence among young people and also among healthcare workers due to exposure to the virus in hospitals.
“For some people, it really bothers them.”
Long COVID is a term to describe the effects of the coronavirus that can persist for weeks or months after the initial illness.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Months after having COVID-19, some are still struggling with their health
Describing it as a “neurotropic virus,” Prof Kumar explained, “The virus affects the nerves in the roof of the nose – it’s like a shock to your nervous system, and the nerves don’t work.”
Daniel Saveski, a 24-year-old banker living in London, said he lost his sense of taste and smell for two weeks after contracting coronavirus in March and has suffered from parosmia since.
Mr Saveski, from West Yorkshire, said strong-smelling things like garbage cans now smell like fire, brimstone, or ‘toast’.
He added, “It has diminished my enjoyment of food, and it’s a little depressing that I can’t smell certain foods.”
Lynn Corbett, administrator of a real estate agent, said she was “shocked” to wake up on her 52nd birthday in March with “absolutely no smell or taste”.
Ms Corbett, from Selsey in Sussex, said: “From March until the end of May I couldn’t taste anything – I honestly think I could have bit into a raw onion, such was my loss of taste.”
She said her sense of smell started to return in June, but “nothing smelled like it should.”
“Most things smelled disgusting, that sickly sweet smell that is hard to describe since I have never encountered it before.”
She said that despite being previously a “coffee addict”, the drink now smells “unbearable”, just like beer and gasoline.
Subscribe to the daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
Although not sure if she will ever regain her sense of smell, Ms Corbett said: ‘I agree, I just think myself lucky that if I had coronavirus which seems to be the case then I don’t wouldn’t. ” I was seriously ill, hospitalized or died like so many others. “
Charity AbScent, which supports people with odor disorders, brings together information from thousands of patients with anosmia and parosmia in partnership with ENT UK and the British Rhinological Society to help develop therapies.
They recommend that anyone affected by parosmia go through “scent training,” which involves sniffing rose, lemon, clove and eucalyptus oils every day for about 20 seconds with the goal of slowly recovering. their sense of smell.
Source link
