We May Finally Know Why Some People Don't Recover Their Sense of Smell After COVID

It's known that having COVID-19 can affect your sense of smell, but in some cases it doesn't work out. New research shows why.

The new study states that the decline in the number of nerve cells in the nose is caused by an ongoing immune system attack on the nose.

The research could help us understand long COVID and why some people can't recover from it.

Many people with an altered sense of smell will be able to smell again within a couple of weeks, but others will not.

"We need to better understand why this subset of people will go on to have persistent smell loss for a long time after being exposed to the disease."

Nine people experienced a long-term loss of smell after having COVID-19 and the team studied their nose tissue samples. The cells that detect odors are held in this tissue.

T-cells are white blood cells that help the body fight off infections. The T-cells were causing inflammation in the nose.

The T-cells do more harm than good and damage the olfactory epithelium. Even though the disease wasn't detected, the inflammation process was still visible.

The findings are striking. It's almost like an autoimmune process in the nose, that's what I think.

The study participants who lost their sense of smell had a lower number of olfactory sensory neurons than the other participants.

The symptoms of long COVID include excessive fatigue, a brain fog, and a lack of breath.

The team wants to know more about which tissue areas are damaged and which types of cells are involved. It will lead to the development of treatments for those who have a long-term loss of smell.

"We are hopeful that by changing the immune response or repair processes within the nose of these patients, we can restore a sense of smell."

The research was published in a journal.