Loss of smell and taste may be a symptom of Covid-19: How did that happen?

Isabelle Rosa, a 27-year-old girl living in California, USA, started to find herself having a fever and coughing in early March.If those symptoms occurred last spring, she would be assured that it was just a flu.

But amidst the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the Covid-19 pandemic around the world, Rosa suspected she had been infected.Ironically, the US health system was in a crisis of testing, they did not have enough test kits for SARS-CoV-2 and some tests even gave false results.

Like many other Americans, Rosa is instructed to isolate herself at home.Doctors said she did not need to go to the hospital and did not need to be tested unless the symptoms worsened.

Rosa did exactly that.But while severe fevers and shortness of breath did not reach her, Rosa encountered a very strange symptom.About 3 days after becoming ill, she suddenly realized that she lost both her sense of smell and taste.Rosa no longer smells or tastes anything.

' I discovered it while drinking expired milk. I don't know why I didn't taste [the sourness] of it. And then there was the smell, I couldn't smell anything, not even perfume. I ate lemons - neither sour.

I tried smelling a lot of smells, about 50 different things and probably tasted about 30 more things. The results still do not see anything , 'Rosa said.A week later, since March 22, her sense of smell and taste still deteriorated.

Rosa is not the only person who has been infected or suspected of being infected with Covid-19 to report symptoms of loss of smell.Business Insider quoted British experts as saying that about one-third of patients infected with corona virus in China, South Korea and Italy reported symptoms of loss of smell.

But exactly why does this happen?How has Covid-19 affected the ability of patients infected with it to smell and taste?Does this symptom mean screening?And do people with Covid-19 lose their sense of smell permanently, even after they recover?

Causes of loss of smell

Loss of smell (anosmia) and loss of taste (ageusia) often accompany each other.There are many possible causes for them.Some people have lost their sense of smell, taste, or both from birth.The condition then was congenital.

Some people experience trauma to the head, breaking nerves that connect the nose and the brain called the olfactory bulb.Viral infections can also cause anosmia and ageusia.If this last cause occurs, it is usually the respiratory viruses such as Covid-91 responsible.

But contrary to what you might imagine, viral sense of smell doesn't usually stem from a stuffy nose, nor does it cause serious damage to the brain, said Paul Masiowski, a clinical neurologist in Canada said.

' Knowledge at this time suggests that respiratory viruses may damage olfactory receptors, which are essential for a normal olfactory sensory function. They can also cause swelling of some olfactory nerves and cause compression . '

Often losing sense of smell is not accompanied by pain, Masiowski explained.The patient also does not necessarily have a stuffy nose.Often illnesses like the flu can cause you to lose your sense of smell temporarily because your nose is stuffy.But as soon as the nose is clear again, you will continue to smell the taste.

A symptom has been ignored

Despite sporadic reports of a number of cases of loss of sense of smell for people in Covid-19 in Germany, Iran and now the United States, people like Rosa previously discovered their symptoms on their own. Share it on social networks like Reddit.

It was not until the last few days that community health experts began to notice it.Earlier this week, officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said they began studying the link between Covid-19 and loss of smell, and warned that any evidence for termites was found. This contact is only preliminary evidence.

There is still a lot we don't know about the relationship between Covid-19 and the loss of smell.An important question is whether people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are more likely to lose their sense of smell than people with the flu or the common cold?

The second question is whether the loss of sense of smell has worsened or become a permanent sequelae in cured Covid-19 patients?

 Many Reddit users have said that their anosmia persists even when they have no other symptoms.On the contrary, there were also those who reported that their nose and tongue were back to normal.

' With this type of anosmia, everyone's sense of smell can be significantly reduced, even completely lost, and the phenomenon can last long after a stuffy nose is gone. Some anosmia can improve over time, but the scary thing is that there are significant losses that can last forever , 'Masiowski said.

Considering the prevalence of this strange symptom, Masiowski is not sure that more patients with Covid-19 suffer from it than the incidence of olfactory loss in people with the common cold.He said that maybe because people are focusing too much on Covid-19, they will notice and report all symptoms of stuffy as well as loss of their sense of smell.

Patients with the common cold have not previously cared about their nasal congestion or loss of their sense of smell, so they talk less about it.

But Masiowski thought that loss of sense of smell could be considered a sign of vigilance for Covid-19 at this time.It may allow clinicians to screen patients early, in addition to blood antibody tests and RT-PCR tests for viral RNA.

Young people do not be subjective

Although it is definitely not as dangerous as the symptoms of pneumonia or shortness of breath after being infected with Covid-19, it can also be a frightening experience, even changing the lives of many patients. .

' Losing sense of smell and taste is really troublesome ,' says Rosa. ' I'm a person who loves to cook, and loves to cook delicious food. What about now, I can no longer taste anything I cook. I'm a bit depressed, and I don't think many people will consider things like this to be something they can tolerate. '

Masiowski's experience in the treatment of anosmia has helped him to share something with people like Rosa.Although people with the disease can regain part or all of their sense of smell, even if it takes years, Masiowski can't seem to be of much help to his patients.

If they were infected with the virus and lost their sense of smell as a consequence of it even after they were cured, the treatment window would actually close.Therefore, Masiowski hopes that through the story he shared, everyone, especially young and healthy people, should not underestimate Covid-19, but try to avoid getting infected from the beginning.

It was a brand new virus, a whole new disease. Who knows if you were infected, what would happen even if its mortality rate was only 2%.

' If you are in your 20s or 30s and you lose your sense of smell this month because of Covid-19 infection. You can then be cured and continue to live for another 50 or 60 years. It's just that your sense of smell and taste are gone forever , 'Masiowski said.

'That will seriously affect the quality of your life for the rest of your life. So, Covid-19, a disease that is being presumed harmless by young people, actually has more potential harm than I hope you'll know about. '