Up to one in three people who had Covid are still experiencing a loss of taste or smell 12 weeks after contracting the virus, reveals a new study. Among the 4,702 people studied, 31.2 per cent reported suffering from a reduced sense of taste at least 12 weeks after being infected.
Similarly, 29.9 per cent reported their sense of smell was still lower than normal after 12 weeks. Worse still, the study revealed that 12.2 per cent had a total loss of smell and 11.7 per cent lost their taste completely.
Professor Shahina Pardhan, director of the Vision and Eye Research Institute in Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, and lead author, said: “Persistent changes in taste and smell have manifested as symptoms of long Covid. These are generally associated with decreases in quality of life, so it is vital that we understand these changes in patients’ smell and taste to help medical professionals advise or manage patients appropriately."
