Why can coronavirus patients lose their sense of smell?

Coronavirus pandemic broke out in earnestall over the world, and now almost at the slightest fever, the appearance of nasal congestion and sore throat, doctors convincingly recommend taking a test for a virus that scares many. Are the symptoms of coronavirus really so similar to a common cold, you ask? At first glance, this is exactly so, however, experts have identified yet another possible characteristic sign of the disease - loss of smell. The appearance of this symptom in young people may indicate the so-called “hidden carriage” of the coronavirus, even if any other manifestations of the disease are completely absent. So how is the loss of smell associated with an infection that has affected hundreds of thousands of people on our planet?

Coronavirus often proceeds in a mild form, but even in this case it may be accompanied by very strange symptoms

The latent form of coronavirus

World famous coronavirus infection withevery day more and more spreads across the territory of our planet. If earlier we talked about the virus itself and its mysterious origin somewhere in a distant Chinese province, now we are already writing about the worldwide panic and mass hysteria, forcing residents of developed countries to massively buy toilet paper. While people are trying to share such an important resource among themselves, scientists continue to discover more and more new properties of COVID-19, some of which may seem rather strange and unusual.

Loss of smell can be one of the symptoms of coronavirus.

It is known that new data that was obtainedfrom British doctors can significantly affect people's awareness of coronavirus infection. The fact is that according to the results of the collected data from South Korea, China and Italy, about 33% of patients noted either a complete loss of smell, or felt a significant decrease. The loss of smell or anosmia is characterized by a complete loss of the sense of smell. Moreover, the loss of smell and taste can occur even in people who do not have the main symptoms of coronavirus infection: temperature and cough.

If you suddenly suddenly stopped feelingsmells and tastes, then you could still come to terms with this for a while. However, the loss of smell may not be the most unpleasant consequence of a viral infection, because not knowing about its dangerous property to hide in the cells of an organism with strong immunity, you can become an active distributor of this “sinister” coronavirus, from which the whole world runs in panic and, of course, not without reason.

The so-called “hiddencarriage ”of a virus that you and your doctor may not even be aware of. So, without smelling the coffee in the morning, you are unlikely to go to take the COVID-19 test or go into self-isolation mode. The well-known portal Bussinessinsider.com suggests that it was the “hidden” form of carriage of coronavirus infection that could play a cruel joke in the spread of the virus so rapidly around the world.

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Some scientists are convinced that the severity of the manifestationcoronavirus infection can determine the age and condition of the patient. According to some assumptions, this is why young people often get off with only asymptomatic or mild forms of the disease, while older people with chronic diseases are at significantly greater risk.

Experts believe that due to the developedimmune defense, in young people the virus often simply settles in the nose and does not spread down the airways. A similar circumstance is directly related to these statistics, which shows a relatively small percentage of young people with a severe form of the disease. At the same time, the virus nevertheless affects the nerve paths, and the person who becomes infected with the coronavirus ceases to smell. Fortunately, temporarily. After the infection is cured, such an unpleasant manifestation of the disease disappears, and a person can again gain the ability to smell the objects surrounding him.

According to statistics, older people are more likely to get severe COVID-19 compared to younger

Thus, if you suddenly lost your sense of smellthen strongly we recommend that you stay at home and self-insulate for at least a few days. Such measures will prevent the spread of a deadly disease, British scientists say.

Previously, Hi-News.ru already wrote that not only elderly people, but also young people now fall into the risk zone of a mutated disease. You can read about this in this article.