Early care increases chance of regaining sense of smell: expert

Angeles Cruz Martinez

Newspaper La Jornada
Friday, February 18, 2022, p. 10

Loss of smell and taste due to covid-19 must be treated early, in order to reduce inflammation and recover those functions as much as possible. What has been seen, explained Francisco Saynes, a specialist in otorhinolaryngology, is that when more than a month goes by without attention, the prognosis not the best.

The patients hardly recover 20 to 30 percent the ability to smell. This is so due to the damage caused by the coronavirus in the olfactory nerve cells.

In a conference on the importance of nasal hygiene as a measure to prevent respiratory infections, the specialist explained that the sense of smell is located in the upper part of the nose (at eye level) so any flu, sinusitis or allergy It leads to a decrease in the ability to breathe and perceive odors. But when these conditions are resolved, the nasal passages are decongested and people regain their sense of smell.

He stressed that severe damage is observed when the infections are serious and affect the nerve endings, which also occurs with covid-19, which complicates the recovery of the ability to perceive odors.

Saynes detailed that SARS-CoV-2 infection generates an inflammatory process in different organs, as well as in respiratory and neurological arteries. Higher mental functions and sensory functions such as taste and smell are affected. Despite the clinical evidence that it is difficult to recover these latter functions, it also depends on the level of damage caused by the virus.

They no longer recover

Saynes explained that there are people who after four to six months of overcoming covid-19 still do not perceive smells or tastes. Hence the importance of patients receiving medical treatment based on intranasal steroids from the early stages of the disease. The goal is to reduce inflammation and preserve nasal nerve cells, because when they get hurt they don’t recoverhe pointed.

However, nothing is definitive yet, as information and scientific evidence is still being collected. The specialist commented that treatments have been prescribed to retrain the central nervous system in the perception of odors.