CORONAVIRUS – This is probably the most obvious symptom when you have had the Covid-19. The loss of smell, or anosmia, combined with the loss of taste can last for several weeks if you have contracted the virus. In a July 24 study, researchers at Harvard Medical University demonstrated that this was the result of how SARS-CoV-2 entered our body, as you can find out in the video at the top of this article.
Anosmia can come from a local cause (the nasal cavity where the olfactory mucosa is located) or cerebral: the brain, under the effect of a dysregulation, can indeed lead to a loss of smell. One of the objectives of the study published in the journal Science Advances was to confirm either hypothesis, to better understand how the virus enters the human host.
The result of the study is undoubtedly: SARS-CoV-2 does infect the respiratory cavity, via an enzyme whose role researchers have long suspected: ACE 2 receiver. Component of several types of cells, such as stem cells and blood vessels, its role in our body is complex and essential. But it provides the coronavirus with a real “gateway” to enter our body.
The ACE2 receptor, outside the cell, allows the virus to attach itself to it, and open the cell to infect it. It is then that our sense of smell is disrupted, and with it that of taste. For the researchers, this confirms that our airways are not only where the virus is concentrated, but also that it does not normally infect neurons: good news, because the brain damage can then be much more severe. .
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