“That we suspected that patterns of odor loss differed between the two groups,” he said.
Philpott and his colleagues studied smoking and taste function in 10 Covid-19 patients, 10 acute cold patients and 10 healthy people serving as a control group.
The researchers not only found that the smoke and taste function of Covid-19 patients was significantly less than in both the cold patients and the healthy individuals – but also the ability to detect sweet and bitter tastes was particularly limited in Covid-19 patients .
“It is particularly interesting that Covid-19 is particularly similar to sweet and bitter taste receptors, as these are known to play an important role in innate immunity,” Philpott said in the release.
Philpott called for additional research to explore the relationship between the virus and these taste receptors.
“It was this loss of true taste that seems to be present in Covid-19 patients compared to those with a cold,” he said in the release.
The researchers believe that taste loss in Covid-19 patients is not only more severe, but is caused by another mechanism in the olfactory system, which is responsible for the body’s smell of smoke. The researchers say their findings indicate that Covid-19 patients experience an immediate loss of the ability to taste, rather than an indirect loss of taste, because the sense of smell is limited.
Covid-19 can produce increased inflammation throughout the body. The researchers suggest that this inflammation may damage taste receptors. They say it is also possible that Covid-19 may affect part of the brain stem associated with the sense of taste.
Both the Covid-19 and cold patient groups in the study reported improvement in their sense of taste and smell over time, although only 30% of Covid-19 patients reported complete recovery.
The researchers say it is likely that some Covid-19 patients will experience permanent loss of taste after clearing the virus.
The study had some limitations, including the small study size. More research is needed to determine whether similar findings would occur among a larger group of Covid-19 and cold patients.
However, in general, Philpott and colleagues say odor and taste tests can discriminate between Covid-19 and cold patients, meaning that these tests could potentially be an additional screening tool for those with the new coronavirus.
This symptom seems to be very prevalent in mild to moderate cases of Covid-19, and is predisposed to the onset of the disease. It may even be one of the first signs that you are sick.
CNN’s Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.
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