Covid survivors smell food differently

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“There are daily reports of long-haul recovery in terms of improved parosmia and patients with a fairly good sense of smell,” Professor Hopkins said.

Ms Viegut, 25, worries that she may not be able to detect a gas leak or a fire. It’s a real risk, as the experience of a family in Waco, Texas, who failed to detect that their house was on fire, showed in January. Almost all of the members had lost their sense of smell due to Covid; they escaped, but the house was destroyed.

Parosmia is one of the many Covid-related issues associated with smell and taste. Partial or total loss of smell, or anosmia, is often the first symptom of coronavirus. Loss of taste, or ageusia, can also be a symptom.

Before Covid, parosmia received relatively little attention, said Nancy E. Rawson, vice president and associate director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, an internationally renowned nonprofit research group.

“We would have a big conference, and one of the doctors could have a case or two,” Dr. Rawson said.

In a French study from early 2005, most of the 56 cases examined were attributed to upper respiratory tract infections.

Today, scientists can identify more than 100 reasons for loss and distortion of smell, including viruses, sinusitis, head trauma, chemotherapy, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, said Dr. Zara M. Patel, associate professor of otolaryngology at Stanford University and director of endoscopic skull base surgery.

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