Anthony Del Signore, MD, director of rhinology at Mount Sinai Union Square in New York City, says he has heard from COVID-19 patients who complain that “things used to smell one way but now they’re rancid.” Some patients with anosmia from COVID-19 may find that foods have an unpleasant smell or taste. If you hold your nose and have some coffee or chocolate, there will be no coffee or chocolate sensation - you get just the bitter or the sweet.” “For patients who come to us claiming they have a taste problem, 9 times out of 10 they have a normal taste function, but what they have is a smell dysfunction,” he says.ĭoty explains, “As we chew food and swallow, puffs of molecules go up through the olfactory receptors and get perceived as taste. But smell is usually the underlying issue, says Dr. While scientists are still studying the connection between the novel coronavirus and anosmia, research by Harvard Medical School neuroscientists, published in July in Science Advances, suggests that the virus does not cause permanent damage to the olfactory neurons, as can sinus infections and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis.ĬOVID-19 patients are often not even aware of the smell loss at first, and instead notice that food no longer tastes as it should. “At least presently, we think the major loss is due to the damage to the cells in the periphery of the epithelium,” the tissue on the roof of the nasal cavity that plays a key role in smell detection. Upwards of 90 percent of COVID-19 patients experience some temporary anosmia, or loss of smell, says Richard Doty, PhD, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Smell and Taste Center in Philadelphia. What Causes Loss of Smell and Taste in COVID-19 Patients? But anyone who has had this common COVID symptom knows it’s more than just an inconvenience: It can impact everything from nutrition to mental health and even basic household safety. For a trained pastry chef like Kennedy, loss of smell and taste is especially disorienting.
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