By Cara Murez 

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, June 7, 2023 (HealthDay Information) — One of many signature signs of COVID-19 an infection within the early months of the pandemic was a lack of the sense of odor.

Now, new analysis finds that’s now not the case, because of the brand new variants which were circulating extra just lately.

The danger of dropping sense of style or odor is now solely about 6% to 7% of what it was through the pandemic’s early phases, in response to researchers at Virginia Commonwealth College (VCU) College of Drugs in Richmond, Va.

“At first of the pandemic, odor and style loss had been thought-about frequent signs of COVID-19. Earlier than viral exams had been readily accessible, we relied much more on such signs to diagnose these contaminated. Nonetheless, as completely different variants of the COVID-19 virus have emerged, the varieties of signs mostly skilled modified as effectively,” stated examine creator Dr. Evan Reiter, who’s the medical director of VCU Well being’s Odor and Style Problems Middle.

For the examine, the researchers used a nationwide database of greater than 7 million sufferers who examined constructive for COVID-19, calculating the prevalence of odor and style loss as a symptom of the virus throughout peak intervals of an infection for every variant wave.

The staff discovered that the dangers of odor loss from a COVID-19 an infection for Alpha and Delta, each pervasive variants in 2021, had been solely 74% and 64% of what was noticed within the early phases of the pandemic.

They noticed even steeper declines in lack of odor in 2022 and early 2023, as Omicron variants dominated. The danger of odor loss from an infection was as little as 6% in contrast with 2020 charges.

“This information reveals that odor and style loss is now not a dependable indicator of COVID‐19 an infection,” Reiter stated. “This implies which you could’t rule out COVID-19 in case you are feeling sick however haven’t misplaced your sense of odor. This additionally implies that when you have misplaced your sense of odor, it’s not a assure that it’s from a COVID-19 an infection.”

The findings had been printed just lately within the journal Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgical procedure.

Researchers don’t know why fewer individuals at the moment are dropping their sense of odor with an infection, however greater immunity to the virus might be an element.

“We don’t have the information on what’s inflicting this decline in odor loss as a symptom of COVID-19, however I’d speculate that this could be associated to our elevated immunity to the virus, both by vaccines or having an earlier an infection, as this usually helps cut back the severity of future infections,” Reiter stated in a college information launch.

“Whereas the chance of odor loss is way much less prevalent than the preliminary waves of COVID-19, we’re nonetheless seeing sufferers who’ve both fully misplaced or have a distorted sense of odor, which may take a big toll on their high quality of life. There are a good variety of sufferers who’ve bother sustaining a nutritious diet as a result of there are such a lot of meals which are displeasing to them,” Reiter defined. “Fortunately, there may be a variety of work being carried out in hopes of discovering an efficient remedy for these affected by this situation.”

Funding for the examine was supplied by the MEDARVA Basis. A staff that supplied information for the examine was partially funded by the U.S. Nationwide Institutes of Well being’s Scientific and Translational Science Award.

Extra data

The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention has extra on COVID-19 signs.

SOURCE: Virginia Commonwealth College, information launch, June 5, 2023