A recent study in Italy found that 10 percent of people who lost their smell and taste due to COVID-19 saw their symptoms worsen or remain the same throughout the course of the infection.
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According to the BBC, the remaining 90 percent who lost their sense of smell or taste while infected with the coronavirus saw their condition improve or recovered within a month.
According to reports, 49% of patients fully recovered their sense of smell or taste, while 40% claimed to have experienced slight improvements.
Loss of taste and smell was not originally listed as potential symptoms of COVID-19 when the pandemic first erupted, but since then they have been accepted as important warning signs of possible infection.
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The study, published in the JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Journal, consisted of an international team of researchers who surveyed 187 Italians about their experiences with the virus. The surveyed patients were positive for coronavirus but not sick enough to require hospitalization, the BBC reported.
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There were 113 patients who said that their sense of smell and / or taste had changed, while 55 stated that they had fully recovered. There were also 46 participants who reported overall improvements and 12 patients who said their symptoms had not changed or worsened.
One of the researchers and president of the British Rhinology Society, professor Claire Hopkins, said the COVID studies are beginning to focus on the long-term effects of the coronavirus and on the persistent symptoms that survivors can expect.
“The data for other viral diseases and some of the new data that we are collecting suggest that the vast majority of people will improve, but for some, recovery will be slow,” he told the BBC. “For people who recover more quickly, the virus likely has only affected the cells that line their nose.”
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Hopkins added: “For people who recover more slowly, the virus may also have affected the nerves involved in smell. It may take longer to repair and regenerate these nerve cells.”
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