Scientists reveal the one Covid symptom you may be stuck with for life
Post-Covid loss of smell more severe than previously thought
- A new study has found that post-Covid loss of smell may be permanent, with 80 per cent of affected individuals still performing poorly on scent-detection tests two years after infection.
- Approximately one in four people who experienced changes in their sense of smell due to Covid-19 suffered from severe impairment or complete loss of the ability to smell.
- Researchers noted that a dulled sense of smell can profoundly impact mental and physical wellbeing, creating everyday risks such as the inability to detect smoke or spoiled food.
- While potential treatments like vitamin A supplementation and olfactory training are being investigated, experts caution that full recovery of smell may not always be possible.
- Separately, a new Covid strain called Stratus, including variants XFG and XFG.3, is now widespread in the UK, though the World Health Organisation considers its global public health risk to be low.