By Cara Murez 

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 7, 2023 (HealthDay Information) — One of many signature signs of COVID-19 an infection within the early months of the pandemic was a lack of the sense of odor.

Now, new analysis finds that’s not the case, due to the brand new variants which were circulating extra not too long ago.

The chance of dropping sense of style or odor is now solely about 6% to 7% of what it was throughout the pandemic’s early levels, in keeping with researchers at Virginia Commonwealth College (VCU) Faculty of Medication in Richmond, Va.

“At the start of the pandemic, odor and style loss have been thought of frequent signs of COVID-19. Earlier than viral assessments have been readily accessible, we relied much more on such signs to diagnose these contaminated. Nevertheless, as totally different variants of the COVID-19 virus have emerged, the forms of signs mostly skilled modified as nicely,” mentioned research writer Dr. Evan Reiter, who’s the medical director of VCU Well being’s Odor and Style Issues Heart.

For the research, the researchers used a nationwide database of greater than 7 million sufferers who examined optimistic for COVID-19, calculating the prevalence of odor and style loss as a symptom of the virus throughout peak durations of an infection for every variant wave.

The crew discovered that the dangers of odor loss from a COVID-19 an infection for Alpha and Delta, each pervasive variants in 2021, have been solely 74% and 64% of what was noticed within the early levels of the pandemic.

They noticed even steeper declines in lack of odor in 2022 and early 2023, as Omicron variants dominated. The chance of odor loss from an infection was as little as 6% in contrast with 2020 charges.

“This knowledge reveals that odor and style loss is not a dependable indicator of COVID‐19 an infection,” Reiter mentioned. “This implies that you would be able to’t rule out COVID-19 in case you are feeling sick however haven’t misplaced your sense of odor. This additionally signifies that if in case you have misplaced your sense of odor, it’s not a assure that it’s from a COVID-19 an infection.”

The findings have been revealed not too long ago within the journal Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgical procedure.

Researchers don’t know why fewer folks are actually dropping their sense of odor with an infection, however greater immunity to the virus might be an element.

“We don’t have the info on what’s inflicting this decline in odor loss as a symptom of COVID-19, however I’d speculate that this is likely to be associated to our elevated immunity to the virus, both by means of vaccines or having an earlier an infection, as this sometimes helps scale back the severity of future infections,” Reiter mentioned in a college information launch.

“Whereas the chance of odor loss is way much less prevalent than the preliminary waves of COVID-19, we’re nonetheless seeing sufferers who’ve both fully misplaced or have a distorted sense of odor, which may take a major toll on their high quality of life. There are a good variety of sufferers who’ve bother sustaining a nutritious diet as a result of there are such a lot of meals which can be displeasing to them,” Reiter defined. “Fortunately, there’s lots of work being executed in hopes of discovering an efficient remedy for these affected by this situation.”

Funding for the research was supplied by the MEDARVA Basis. A crew that supplied knowledge for the research was partially funded by the U.S. Nationwide Institutes of Well being’s Medical and Translational Science Award.

Extra info

The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention has extra on COVID-19 signs.

 

SOURCE: Virginia Commonwealth College, information launch, June 5, 2023



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