livemint.com
06.08.2020 / 11:25
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Loss of smell and taste as symptoms of coronavirus? What does this finding say
COVID-19 patients might be due to inflammation triggered by the disease, and not directly caused by viral infection.According to the study, published in the journal ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, while the ACE2 receptor protein, used by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 to enter host tissue, was enriched in cells that give the tongue its rough surface, they couldn't be found in the cells of the taste buds.The researchers, including those from the University of Georgia in the US, also showed that other viruses that affect taste, including the flu virus, might infect different tongue cell types.They said viruses cause infection by invading specific cells in the body and reproducing, often damaging or killing those cells in the