This is the difference between losing your smell due to the Coronavirus and colds

KOMPAS.com – A new study shows that anosmia or loss of smell to be the most common symptom experienced by patients corona virus.

Findings compiled by researchers in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also indicate that anosmia not only occurs in symptomatic patients, but also in the asymptomatic group.

“The number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 with symptoms of loss of taste or smell (anosmia) increased the most across all age groups,” the research team wrote in its summary report.

Loss or reduction in the function of smell is also commonly felt when you have the flu or cold.

How to distinguish the loss of smell due to the corona virus and the cold?

Ear nose and throat specialist (ENT) Hospital Columbia Asia Hospital (RSCA) Prof. Dr. dr Delfitri Munir, Sp.THTKL (K) explained the difference between the two.

Also read: This Study Finds Possible Causes of the Loss of Smell by People with Covid-19

He said the nasal cavity was the most favorite entry point for the corona virus. This is because the virus is transmitted through droplets and airbones.

“In this nose, the flow of air is more than 75 percent directed to the roof of the nose. There are the endings of the olfactory nerves or smell nerves,” Delfitri told Kompas.com, Tuesday (12/1/2020).

“Because the roof of our nose is curved, the particles that are carried away will bump and anchor there,” he continued.

This condition causes the olfactory nerve to be exposed to the corona virus.

Due to the nature of the virus damaging cells, causing inflammation, this irritates the olfactory nerves and results in loss of the sense of smell.

“This can be temporary or permanent. If the nerve is dead, it can’t be healed again,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the loss of the sense of smell due to colds or influenza is caused by inflammation of the mucous membrane throughout the nose.

This makes the nose clogged and unable to breathe air.

“Due to inflammation, the air we breathe does not reach the roof of the nasal cavity where the nerve is located, so it closes it,” he said.

Also read: INFOGRAPHIC: What Is Anosmia?

“So the airborne particles that carry the smell cannot enter, because the nostrils are closed. If the clogging is gone, you can smell again because the nerves are not disturbed,” he continued.

This condition of the nerves in the nose is what distinguishes the loss of the sense of smell due to the corona virus and the cold.

This means that a Covid-19 patient will experience a loss of his sense of smell, but can still breathe air normally.

Meanwhile, the loss of the sense of smell experienced by sufferers of colds or influenza is usually accompanied by disturbances in breathing air.

Studies on the differences between anosmia due to Covid-19 and colds

In early November, as reported Kompas.comEuropean researchers have found that there is a difference between losing the sense of smell in a patient infected with the coronavirus, and someone who has the flu or a bad cold.

The researchers say, in corona virus patients, loss of the sense of smell tends to occur suddenly and severely.

Apart from that, their noses are also usually not stuffy, or runny. Most patients infected with the corona virus can still breathe easily.

Covid-19 patients who experience anosmia are less able to recognize smells, and they cannot tell the difference between bitter or sweet tastes.

Meanwhile, the reason why someone loses the ability to smell when he has a cold or flu is blockage.

Also read: Experienced by Many Covid-19 Patients, What Is Anosmia?