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Full Version: Why do so many COVID-19 patients lose their sense of smell? Scientists now know.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/heal...504964002/

Scientists have figured out how COVID-19 causes many people to lose their sense of smell. And they have good news: The loss appears to be temporary because the actual cells in the nose that detect smell aren’t harmed.

It was thought damage or inflammation of the olfactory sensory neurons that detect and transmit the sense of smell to the brain caused the problem.

That turned out to be wrong.

In a paper published Friday, researchers found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, instead attacks the cells that support those smell-detecting neurons but not the neurons themselves.

That’s good news because it means the infection isn’t likely to permanently damage COVID-19 patients' olfactory neural circuits.



Yeah this is good news. Mostly because I have had Covid-19 and losing your sense of smell and taste sucks. Looking around the internet at the time was all doom and gloom making it sound like these would take months if they ever came back at all. Its good to see some actual research being done showing that these symptoms are likely not permanent. They weren't permanent for me so I have to agree with the research that has been done here.
Yeah, there is a heck of a lot of research being done on this virus - so, it's good to see we're finding some answers on it :) .

Perhaps this will lead to some kind of treatment that helps to restore people's sense of taste and smell? I know it's literally treating symptoms - but, it'd be better than nothing!