With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, a lot of people have been suffering from anosmia or loss of smell.
More often than not, a Nation World News specified, it is only temporary, but in some cases, it can last longer and affect the quality of life permanently.
University of Pittsburgh doctors report the successful treatment of anosmia (loss of smell) and dysgeusia (disturbed taste) in a #LongCOVID patient after a stellate ganglion block. They theorize that the loss of smell/taste is due to #dysautonomia. 1/🧵https://t.co/MYbyrDUJ1h
— Dysautonomia Intl. (@Dysautonomia) September 18, 2022
A recent study concluded that there is not yet enough strong evidence for particular treatments to treat post-COVID anosmia to regard them as effective.
Nonetheless, there is hope for olfactory training, with a study currently being carried out in Quebec.
Cochrane Review
Unfortunately, this Cochrane review, specifically, specified that effective therapeutics for this disease are not available yet.
This review indicates two studies involving a total of approximately 30 patients, which is somewhat small unless one is assuming that the drug's effect sizes being tested will be phenomenal.
The first tested corticosteroids, as well as an irrigation nasal, while the second assessed the combination of two dietary supplements known as palmitoylethanolamide, a non-essential fatty acid, and luteolin, a compound coming from the family of flavonoids.
The two small studies were randomized and controlled. Nonetheless, the given small number of patients included, as well as the different techniques in matter treatment and effectiveness criteria. It is quite challenging to conclude, one way or the other.
The study investigators guarantee that other researchers are in progress, which is observed on the clinicaltrial.gov database with over a hundred ongoing studies in progress on the question.
Post-COVID Anosmia
A specifically interesting ongoing study is being conducted in Quebec at the University of Three Rivers. It brings three groups of participants together, each experiencing post-COVID anosmia, described in a Healthline report, for at least three months.
Anatomy professor Johannes Frasnelli, a neuroscientist and researcher at the research center of the Hospital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, is also the author of the book for the general public, Smell, Sniff, Smell: The Unsuspected Powers of Smell.
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Frasnelli, the study's main author, explained why he and his team favored this avenue for post-COVID anosmia treatment.
"Disorders of smell did not appear with COVID-19," he said.
Moreover, epidemiological studies approximate that 20 percent prevalence in general of these disorders, which can result from head trauma, neurodegenerative disease, chronic sinusitis, or even a respiratory tract viral infection like SARS-CoV-2, among others.
Olfactory Training
Moreover, for these pre-pandemic disorders, olfactory training, which is detailed in a report published in the National Library of Medicine, is known for being the most clinically established intervention for smell disorders after a viral infection.
He explained that they are just checking if this is the case, with anosmia as an effect of COVID-19.
The ordeal lies in finding the odors of everyday life that expose people to specter smells. A spectrum that stays difficult to analyze given that it is less well-explained empirically, not to mention causally, compared to the spectrum of vision, for instance.
Essentially, the visible domain is well-known from an empirical viewpoint and it is known that these are the wavelengths and frequencies that cause such limitations. According to the researchers, things are getting more complicated for the odor spectrum.
Related information about anosmia and olfactory training is shown on Los Angeles Times' YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on COVID-19 in Science Times.
