Recovered patients from Covid who lost their sense of smell and taste after being infected with the coronavirus may not see their senses return for up to five months.
Anosmia, the loss or alteration of smell and taste, is formally recognized as a symptom of coronavirus infection.
Data from the Office for National Statistics show that half of coronavirus patients have symptoms, with 16 and 17 percent of them experiencing some form of loss of smell and taste, respectively.
Researchers at the University of Quebec studied 813 health professionals who hired Covid-19.
More than a third (38 percent) of people who lost consciousness did not fully recover their taste after five months.
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Recovered patients from Covid who lost their sense of smell and taste after being infected with the coronavirus may not see their senses return for up to five months. Anosmia, the loss or alteration of smell and taste, is formally recognized as a symptom of coronavirus infection (stock)
All study participants completed questionnaires and home tests to assess their taste and smell.
This was done, on average, five months after the capture of Covid-19 and, therefore, the researchers cannot say whether the anosmia lasts or not more than that, as the data do not yet exist.
“Although COVID-19 is a new disease, previous research shows that most people lose their sense of smell and taste in the early stages of the disease,” said the study’s author, Dr. Johannes Frasnelli.
‘We wanted to go further and see how long this loss of smell and taste lingers and how severe it is in people with COVID-19.’
People rated their sense of smell and taste on a scale of 0 to 10, with zero meaning no sense and 10 meaning strong sense.
The average score for people recovering from Covid was eight, while it was nine for people before they fell ill.
Of the 813 participants, 527 lost their taste during the initial illness.
Thirty-eight percent (200 people) of those had not recovered their taste five months later.
“Our results show that an impaired sense of smell and taste can persist in many people with COVID-19,” said Dr. Frasnelli.
“This emphasizes the importance of tracking people who have been infected and the need for further research to find out the extent of the neurological problems associated with COVID-19.”
The study has not yet been peer-reviewed and will be presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology between April 17 and 22.
Loss of smell and taste was officially recognized as a symptom of Covid on May 18, 2020 and has since become an integral part of the diagnostic process, as the NHS states that the only three telltale signs of the disease are fever , cough or loss of taste and smell.
Researchers at King’s College London (KCL) recently asked policymakers to extend this set of recognized symptoms.
Researchers at the University of Quebec studied 813 health professionals who hired Covid-19. More than a third (38 percent) of those who lost consciousness did not fully recover their taste after five months (stock)
They say that the increase in fatigue, sore throat, headache and diarrhea would allow “millions” of unconfirmed cases to be detected.
Medical director Professor Chris Whitty is already under pressure to change Covid’s official symptom list after the results of a government-led study, REACT, revealed that thousands of infected people are escaping through the crevices due to strict guidance.
The World Health Organization and authorities in the USA recognize other less common symptoms, such as muscle pain and diarrhea.
But current testing and tracking rules mean that cotton swabs in the UK are reserved only for people with a fever, continuous cough or loss of smell or taste.
Professor Tim Spector, chief scientist for the Zoe app and an epidemiologist at King’s College London, said: ‘We know from the start that just focusing tests on the classic triad of cough, fever and anosmia leaves out a significant proportion of positive cases.
“We identified anosmia as a symptom in May and our work led the government to include it on the list; now it’s clear that we need to add more.
“By inviting all users who register any new symptoms to take a test, we confirm that there are many other symptoms from Covid.”
A group of 140 family doctors in London echoed this sentiment and called on health chiefs to expand the number of recognized symptoms.
They say that many patients with milder signs did not even consider that they could have the virus and did not isolate themselves when they are most infectious.
Doctors add that they should encourage patients to lie to get tested, which is only available to those who have the three recognized symptoms.
Expanding the scheme to include a runny nose in the dead of winter would likely put immense pressure on the UK’s Test and Trace system.
Leading scientists have been campaigning for months for the official list to be expanded, after warning that it does not catch enough infections in the early stages.