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People suffering from ‘prolonged COVID’ report a strong fishy smell, sulfur, and a sickly sweet smell, as more symptoms of the virus emerge.
The unusual side effect is known as parosmia, a distortion of smell, and it can disproportionately affect young people and healthcare workers.
Professor Nirmal Kumar, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon, called the symptom “very strange and very unique”.
Burnt toast and sulfur aroma have also been reported
Professor Kumar, who is also President of ENT UK, was one of the first doctors to identify anosmia (loss of smell) as an indicator of coronavirus in March.
He urged Public Health England to add it to the symptom list months before it became an official guide.
You have now noticed that among the thousands of patients being treated for long-term anosmia across the UK, some are experiencing parosmia.
“This morning I saw two patients with parosmia,” Professor Kumar told the PA news agency.
“One said they could smell like fish instead of any other scent, and the other can smell burnt when there is no smoke around.
“They are both healthcare workers and we believe there is a higher incidence in young people and also healthcare workers due to exposure to the virus in hospitals.
“Some people get really upset.”
Prolonged COVID is a term to describe the effects of the coronavirus that can continue for weeks or months after the initial illness.
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Months after having COVID-19, some are still struggling with their health
Describing it as a “neurotropic virus”, Professor Kumar explained: “The virus is affecting the nerves on the roof of your nose; it is like a shock to your nervous system and the nerves are not working.”
Daniel Saveski, a 24-year-old banker living in London, said he lost his sense of taste and smell for two weeks after contracting the coronavirus in March, and has suffered from parosmia ever since.
West Yorkshire’s Mr Saveski said strong-smelling things like containers now have a burning smell, similar to sulfur, or smell “like toast.”
She added: “My enjoyment of food has diminished and it is a bit depressing not being able to smell certain foods.”
Lynn Corbett, a real estate agent manager, said she was “shocked” to wake up in March to her 52nd birthday to “absolutely no smell or taste.”
Mrs Corbett, from Selsey in Sussex, said: “From March until the end of May I could not taste anything; I honestly think I could have bitten into a raw onion such was my loss of taste.
He said his sense of smell started to return in June, but “nothing smelled like it should.”
“Most of the things smelled unpleasant, that sickly sweet smell that is hard to describe, as I have never encountered it before.”
He said that despite being previously a “coffee addict,” the drink now smells “unbearable,” just like beer and gasoline.
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While not sure if she will ever regain her sense of smell, Ms Corbett said: “I agree with that, I just consider myself lucky that if I had coronavirus, which it seems I had, then I haven’t been seriously ill. sick, hospitalized or dead like so many others. “
Charity AbScent, which supports people with smell disorders, is collecting information from thousands of patients with anosmia and parosmia in partnership with ENT UK and the British Rhinological Society to help develop therapies.
They recommend that anyone affected by parosmia undergo “olfactory training,” which involves smelling rose, lemon, clove, and eucalyptus oils every day for about 20 seconds in an attempt to slowly regain their sense of smell.
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