By Andrea Hargraves 
One study It was performed and published December 21 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The research was carried out by scientists at Duke University Hospital who were apparently able to pinpoint the cause behind prolonged symptoms after an individual contracted a Covid-19 infection.
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Why do people lose their sense of smell?
According to the researchers, there is a constant immune attack against the olfactory neurons, which leads to a decrease in the number of these cells, which causes symptoms of lack of smell.
It is known that people who have contracted Covid-19 may have, even for a short time, experienced changes in their sense of smell. Some of them don’t get that feeling back until after about two weeks, but others don’t get it back completely. Scientists are still trying to understand this phenomenon.
Assistant Professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences, Bradley Goldstein, said in a statement that the findings of this study can greatly aid research focused on other prolonged symptoms of the virus, which are derived from similar infections.
Study analyzes were performed using olfactory cell samples, which were collected from 24 biopsies. Nine of these volunteers still lacked a sense of smell, even long after they became ill. Through a very detailed analysis, it was possible to verify the presence of infiltration of immune system cells, which act as an inflammatory response in the tissues of the nose. This is where the cells responsible for smell are located.
It has also been shown that the amount of sensory neurons in the sense of smell is significantly reduced, which may be due to the damage to the tissue, which is very sensitive, due to the perceived inflammation.
Finally, between symptoms And the most common long-term consequences after contracting Covid-19, we have:
- Headache;
- insomnia;
- Fatigue, fatigue, weakness and malaise.
- Loss of sense of taste and smell.
- shortness of breath.
- Muscle weakness and/or pain.
- Difficulty with thinking/concentration, memory and language.
- anxiety and depression;
- Fibrosis in the kidneys and/or lungs.
- Worse in already existing diseases.