As the pandemic continues to develop, so do the long-term side effects of COVID-19. Long COVID is the term used to describe the symptoms that follow an active infection, which some people have found to last for several months after the virus infection. Symptoms associated with the disease so far include loss of taste and smell, fatigue, “brain fog” and shortness of breath. Now, a new symptom has been added to the long list of COVID: parosmia.
Parosmia is a dysfunction of smell and, until now, it has been reported mainly by younger patients with COVID-19, as well as by health professionals. The condition differs from loss of smell, as patients discover instead that they can smell something that is not related to the environment. Among presentations of parosmia, individuals reported smelling “disgusting” odors, including burnt, sulfur and fish.
In an interview with CNN, the ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon, Professor Nirmal Kumar, described the symptoms of parosmia as “very strange and unique”. Kumar, who is the president of ENT UK (a professional association representing ear, nose and throat surgery), was the first medical professional to identify the loss of smell as a symptom of COVID-19. The condition that makes us unable to smell anything is called anosmia.
When examining patients with anosmia, Kumar noted that among them there were people who actually had parosmia, where smells are distorted. Unfortunately, it seems that smells are often distorted for the worse, and the condition can have a huge impact on quality of life and mental well-being.
“This virus has an affinity for the nerves in the head and, in particular, the nerve that controls the sense of smell,” said Kumar. “But it probably affects other nerves as well and it affects, we think, neurotransmitters – the mechanisms that send messages to the brain … Some people are reporting hallucinations, sleep disorders, changes in hearing. We don’t know the exact mechanisms, but we are finding ways of trying to help patients recover. “
Some recovering COVID-19 patients are turning to “smell therapy” to try to restore their sense of smell, which Kumar says has some promising early reports of its effectiveness. British charity AbScent is centered around these therapies, which they claim can help patients with parosmia and anosmia to restore their sense of smell. In collaboration with ENT UK and the British Rhinological Society, they are collecting data from thousands of patients with the aim of better understanding the emerging symptoms of long COVID and the best way to treat them.