<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/27/covid-study-finds-millions-have-long-term-smell-or-taste-problems>
"Millions of people worldwide may have long-term smell or taste problems as a
result of Covid-19, with women more likely to be affected, a study suggests.
About 5% of adults infected with the coronavirus may develop long-lasting
changes to their sense of smell or taste, according to the research published
in the
BMJ.
With more than 550m confirmed Covid-19 cases to date, it means there may be
long-term smell deficiencies for 15 million people and taste problems for 12
million (with an unknown overlap of those suffering both) for at least six
months after an infection.
Given the devastating effect that loss of smell and taste can have on quality
of life and wellbeing, this will have a huge impact on global health, the team
of international researchers say.
Loss or change of sense of smell or taste can lead to “severe distress”, they
say, and they call for health systems to be better prepared to support people
who often feel “isolated” when dismissed by clinicians.
Daily activities such as smelling coffee and testing the flavour of food can
become “disgusting and emotionally distressing”, experts say.
The study reviewed data from 18 studies involving 3,699 patients. The
researchers used modelling to estimate how many people go on to suffer from
altered taste or smell for at least six months after a Covid-19 infection.
They concluded that an estimated 5.6% of patients have smell dysfunction for at
least six months and 4.4% have altered taste."
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: July 28, 2022
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-69687774
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
