Loss of sense of smell during virus worrisome

The coronavirus continues to be a wrecking ball the world over. With over a million killed and tens of millions affected, there seems to be no sign of any kind of ‘leniency’ on the part of the disease.

Among the new developments: international visitors will be barred from Indonesia for two weeks to try to keep out a new, potentially more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus.

The distribution of an initial 200 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, across the European Union will be completed by September.

The Swedish government will have the power to close shopping centres and public transport from January 10 and fine people who break the rules, under a new law proposed on Monday to help halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

While the number of coronavirus cases has gone north, there has been a good spiral in the number of patients who have recovered too. However, a major problem is this: those who survive the coronavirus have to endure the long-term effects of the virus.

According to a report in The Independent, Long Covid patients are being haunted by “unbearable” odours like fish and burning in place of normal smells, researchers say, as more unusual symptoms of the virus emerge.

ENT (ear, nose and throat) surgeon Professor Nirmal Kumar said this “very strange and very unique” long-term symptom known as parosmia seems to be affecting young people and healthcare workers in particular.

The surgeon, who is also the president of ENT UK, was among the first medics to identify anosmia, loss of smell, as a coronavirus indicator in March, and urged Public Health England to add it to the symptom list months before it became official guidance.

After treating and studying patients with long-term anosmia, the partial or complete loss of the sense of smell, something he said has affected thousands of people across the UK, Prof Kumar noticed that some were recovering only to experience parosmia.

Prof Kumar told the PA news agency: “This morning I saw two patients with parosmia. One said they could smell fish in place of any other scent, and the other can smell burning when there is no smoke around.

“For some people, it is really upsetting them. We are calling it neurotropic virus,” he added.

What this means is the virus is affecting the nerves in the roof of the nose – it’s like a shock to your nervous system, and the nerves aren’t functioning.

Daniel Saveski, a 24-year-old banker living in London, lost his sense of taste and smell for two weeks after contracting coronavirus in March, and has been suffering from parosmia since.

Saveski, from West Yorkshire, said strong-smelling things like bins now have a burning, sulphur-like odour, or smell “like toast”.

Charity AbScent, which supports people with smell disorders, is gathering information from thousands of anosmia and parosmia patients in partnership with ENT UK and the British Rhinological Society to aid the development of therapies.

A report early this year said losing your sense of smell and taste may be the best way to tell if you have COVID-19, according to a study of data collected via a symptom tracker app developed by scientists in Britain and the United States to help monitor the coronavirus pandemic.

AbScent recommends “smell training”, which involves sniffing rose, lemon, clove and eucalyptus oils every day for around 20 seconds for those trying to regain their sense of smell.

There’s no option, but to fight. Surrendering has never helped matters, especially when it comes to diseases. Let’s battle it out before it battles us out.