The mystery surrounding a strange coronavirus symptom no one can explain might finally be solved

[Chris Smith]

• One of the strangest coronavirus symptoms is also a sign that’s widely recognized as a likely COVID-19 indicator.
• Several studies attempted to explain what causes the sudden loss of smell and taste in COVID-19 patients. A new study employed brain MRI and PET scans to identify potential issues that can coincide with anosmia in COVID-19.
• The researchers think that glucose metabolism inside the brain regions associated with processing smell might partially explain the mysterious COVID-19 symptom.

Doctors have observed all sorts of unexpected symptoms during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the sudden loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia) being the strangest ones. Anosmia has been observed in other respiratory illnesses, but scientists soon realized that the novel coronavirus is the likeliest cause for losing the sense of smell this year. The symptom also happens to be the only COVID-19 symptom that might help patients and doctors tell COVID-19 apart from the flu without a diagnostic test. Doctors have been trained to recognize the sign, and it’s very likely they’d recommend immediate COVID-19 testing if you’re experiencing it.

Other scientists have tried to explain why the sense of smell suddenly vanishes, and some of the published papers out there indicate that the virus infects cells in the olfactory region of the nose. Those studies said the resulting inflammation and swelling prevents odors from reaching neurons that would otherwise pick them up. But a new study now says that people lose their sense of smell in COVID-19 because of some changes in the brain.

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The mystery surrounding a strange coronavirus symptom no one can explain might finally be solved originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 26 Oct 2020 at 12:48:23 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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