People with mild coronavirus experience loss of taste and smell 86% of the time

A loss of taste and smell has become a telltale sign of a coronavirus infection for many, experts said, with a new study released this week noting how common it is for those who have suffered from a case. mild COVID-19.

In a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Internal Medicine, researchers found that about 86% of people with mild cases of coronavirus had lost their sense of taste and smell.

The study involved more than 2,500 patients in 18 European hospitals.

“[Olfactory dysfunction] is more prevalent in mild forms of COVID-19 than in moderate to critical forms, ”the researchers said in the study, noting that according to their research, 75% to 85% of people have regained their ability to taste and taste smell two months after their infection, while 95% of patients regained their ability to taste and smell at six months.

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However, about 5% of patients still had not regained this ability after six months.

In comparison, only about 4% to 7% of people with a “moderate to severe” COVID-19 infection reported losing their taste and smell.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that younger COVID-19 patients were more likely to lose their sense of taste and smell than older patients, although the reasoning behind this requires further analysis, have- they noted.

As to why people with mild cases of COVID-19 were more likely to report losing their taste and smell, the researchers offered an explanation.

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“The main hypothesis underlying the higher prevalence of anosmia in mild COVID-19 would be differences in the immune response to infection in mild and moderate to critical patients. In this hypothesis, patients with mild COVID-19 could have a better local immunological response thanks to a higher production of IgA, which could limit the spread of the virus in the body. further studies are needed to prove this theorem.

“[Olfactory dysfunction] is a disorder prevalent in patients with COVID-19 with a higher prevalence in patients with mild forms of the disease. At two months follow-up, 75% to 85% of patients recovered olfaction according to subjective and objective olfactory evaluations. Future studies are needed to determine the long-term recovery rate of patients with COVID-19, ”the researchers concluded.