The burden of prolonged smell and taste loss in covid-19

“It was sudden, like turning an electric switch off.” This is how one patient described her abrupt loss of smell and taste following infection with covid-19. “I was eating some lunch on day three after contracting covid-19 and one moment I could still smell and taste the flavours of my soup, and the next everything vanished.”She was not alone in this. In fact, smell and taste loss are common complaints among patients with covid-19, with an estimated 50% of patients reporting these symptoms.1 This is thought to occur due to conductive barriers and nerve damage from the extensive inflammation in covid-19 infection.2345The recovery of smell and taste is very much a gradual process for some. In our analysis of 3699 patients from 12 countries, recently published in The BMJ, we found that at the 30 day mark following the initial infection, only 74% and 79% of patients are expected to…
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