Cells in this area of the nasal cavity protect olfactory neurons that enable humans to smell.Ī study published in the Nature Genetics journal in January suggested that genetics plays a key role in determining whether a person loses or experiences a change in their sense of smell and taste after being infected with Covid-19. The “precise cause” of sensory loss related to the coronavirus is not known, said Sky News, but experts believe it is connected to “damage to infected cells in a part of the nose called the olfactory epithelium”. However, hopes have been raised after scientists said that a molecule found in coffee, typically described by people with smell distortion as “disgusting” or “repulsive”, could provide a breakthrough. A study last year found that between 700,000 and 1.6 million people in the US had lost or had a change in their sense of smell for more than six months after having Covid.Īnd the authors of the study – published in the Jama Network Open journal – warned that these figures were “likely an underestimate”, reported CNN.
What the pandemic is doing to our brains.