“Long Covid and the Loss of Smell” from DW

 

“Long Covid and the Loss of Smell” is another short doc from DW News. 

Rachel Herz  Brown University gives an interview about anosmia, loss of smell, and sometimes parosmia, distorted smell.  There are related disorders for taste.  I may have had some parosmia for about three days at the end of March, and it resolved itself. 

Disturbances in the sense of smell happen when the virus enters supporting cells for the olfactory nerve, as these cells have ACE2 receptors.  This symptom may happen two days before a PCR test would return a positive result, so self-isolation should always happen. Often, when this is the first symptom, there are few other symptoms.

The video did mention taste, and gave the example of a woman whose job required taste.  She could taste something with wine and vinegar, but could not discern the difference.

The video describes olfactory retraining and believes most people can regain most of their sense of smell. 

The doctor said it was not clear yet how often loss of smell and taste occur with the new variants.

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