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Loss of smell is one of the most common symptoms in people infected with the new coronavirus. But recent reports from people with long-term symptoms of the disease have revealed new changes in odors, which they describe as an “unbearable” fishy, burning or even sulfur odor.
A symptom called parosmia, which means odor distortion, is especially affecting young people and health professionals who have been infected by the new coronavirus.
The news comes from Sky News, who cited the otolaryngologist and surgeon Nirmal Kumar, one of the first specialists to identify parosmia in patients with Covid-19. The doctor defined this side effect as “very strange and unique”, confessing having received, “this morning”, two patients with parosmia.
“It is as if the virus impacts our nervous system, causing a malfunction of our nerve connections.” explained the professor and doctor, who defined it as a “neurotropic virus”, and went on to explain how it “has an affinity with the nerves of the head and, in particular, with the nerve that controls smell.”
“It probably also affects other nerves and, we think, neurotransmitters, the mechanisms that send messages to the brain,” he added, adding that “some people report hallucinations, sleep disturbances and changes in hearing.”
For patients who months after being negative for Covid-19 still do not regain their smell, “smell therapies” have been recommended, that is, stimulating sessions that help associate the so-called “correct” smells of things.
