Covid-19 has caused thousands to temporarily lose their sense of smell but some might never get it back, a study suggests. Typically losing the ability to smell and subsequently taste lasts no more than a couple of weeks after catching coronavirus.
But according to research at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, half the people who catch Covid may suffer long-term changes to their senses.Tests on 100 people who had lost their sense of smell when infected with Covid in March 2020 found that after 18 months almost one in 20 still did not have it back at all.
A third continued to have a reduced ability to detect odours, and worryingly nearly half complained of parosmia which is where the sense of smell is distorted.
Incredibly it was only when they conducted the experiment that the majority of those with a reduced sense of smell realised their senses were not back firing at 100%.