Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Covid-19 and flu Commonly both cause symptoms of loss of the ability to smell and taste. Recent research has found differences between the two.
Research published in the journal Rhinology It found that the loss of smell and taste in Covid-19 patients was not due solely to nasal congestion. Moreover, decreased function of the sense of smell and taste is an effect of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the brain and nervous system.
“We know that Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases are different. For example, Covid-19 causes the immune system to overreact, known as cytokine storms and can affect nerves,” said one of the researchers from the University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School, Carl Philpott. , launch CNN. This led the researchers to suspect that the pattern of loss of smell and taste in Covid-19 and the common cold would also be different.
Philpott and other researchers studied the function of the sense of smell and taste of taste in 10 Covid-19 patients, 10 common cold patients, and 10 healthy people. The researchers found that the loss of the ability to smell and taste taste in Covid-19 patients was significantly worse than in patients with the common cold. Generally, Covid-19 patients find it very difficult to detect sweet and bitter tastes.
“It’s interesting that Covid-19 appears to affect the taste receptors for sweet and bitter. Both are known to play important roles in innate immunity,” said Philpott.
Researchers believe that the loss of taste in Covid-19 patients is not only more severe, but also caused by a different mechanism in the olfactory system, which is responsible for the sense of smell. The findings show that Covid-19 patients experience a loss of the ability to feel directly, not indirectly because of a disturbed sense of smell.
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Infographics. Even though they are almost the same, the cold, flu, and Covid-19 have various differences. (CNNIndonesia / Basith Subastian)- – |
Covid-19 is known to increase inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation, say researchers, can damage taste receptors. Researchers suspect, the SARS-CoV-2 virus can affect the part of the brain stem connected to the sense of taste.
In the study, Covid-19 patients and common cold patients both reported improvements in their ability to smell and taste. However, only 30 percent of Covid-19 patients report complete recovery.
The researchers said, it is likely that Covid-19 patients will experience a continuous loss of taste even though the virus has disappeared from the body.
However, it should be noted, this study still has a number of limitations, including the very small number of the study sample. More research is needed to prove the results of this study.
However, Philpott said that smell and taste tests can tell the difference between Covid-19 and the common cold. The test has the potential to become an additional screening tool for those suspected of being infected with the coronavirus.
Previously, the United States Center for Disease and Prevention Control (CDC) included the loss of the ability to taste and smell as one of the list of Covid-19 symptoms that must be considered. These symptoms are more common in mild or moderate cases of Covid-19. Symptoms also tend to appear in the early days of infection and are one of the early symptoms of Covid-19.
(asr)
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