The COVID19 | Long-COVID | Long-Haulers | Loss of smell
A coronavirus infected patient may present with a long list of symptoms and loss of smell (aka anosmia) is one of them. From my personal chamber experiences, people consider "loss of smell" as a more possible feature of COVID19 then cold, cough, fever and throat pain. They usually take upper respiratory symptoms (fever, cold, running nose, cough etc) as a minor illness. However, if the above mention features are found in association with loss of smell and taste, they become panicked. At that point, it is easier for us to convince them to do the PCR test 😀
Back to the topic. Loss of smell is indeed one of the features of this disease which may last for a longer period than other symptoms. Hence, it is an important feature of Long-COVID. Usually, a patient loses the smell during the acute phase of the illness. And it takes months to return to the normal sense of smell. To be noted, the Olfactory nerve is responsible for the smell.
A recent study was conducted on the health care workers who suffered from the COVID19 and recovered. The result shows that >50% of the healthcare workers, who lost the sense of smell during the actual illness, hasn't got it back to the normal level, even after 5 months of a post-infection period. You can read this Medscape article to know more about the study.
Smell is one of the five special senses. Without a proper sense of smell, sometimes we can't live a healthy and comfortable life. E.g. if someone doesn't have a proper smell, he ends up eating unhealthy or spoiled food. Or he can't smell the leaking gas or smoke at home, which may lead to a disaster. Being a long-hauler (those who has recovered from the COVID19 but suffers from a few long-standing symptoms), without an intact sense of smell, a person's quality of life may be hampered. The bad news is that there is nothing specific to do to hasten the return of the smell. Just wait and pray.
