The health emergency continues and there is still no date on which it can end. Based on the World Health Organization (WHO), there are already 346 million cases. But although most manage to overcome this disease, one of the risks is the development of discomfort. In this vein, parosmia has now been identified as a new sequel left by Covid-19. Although it seems minor, it can actually cause serious lifestyle consequences.
To begin with, from the beginning of the pandemic, one symptom in particular was alerted. It is about anosmia and at least in the first cases it was a quite distinctive feature. To date, it has not been possible to determine the reason why some people develop this characteristic and others do not. It is suspected that it could be related to genetics but more research is still needed.
From anosmia to parosmia
In that sense, the loss of smell it was one of the signs with which it was possible to differentiate cases of this new infection with other influenza. Although as time has passed it has ceased to be a characteristic in patients.
Although now another discomfort that some of the survivors develop has been revealed. In this case, parosmia has been described as a new sequel to Covid-19.
What does it consist of?
It is a distortion of odors. Although people can smell, now they do it in a different way and everyday aspects of life can seem disgusting or unpleasant to them.
In accordance with a job from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, this signal is usually more common in children and adolescents, although cases have also been identified in adults.
Now, parosmia is a quite dangerous sequel to Covid-19 because it can cause eating disorders. If a person has a distortion in their sense of smell, they can avoid consuming some products and, in the end, this affects their lifestyle.
On the other hand, what has not been determined is the duration of this discomfort. It has been identified that in some cases it disappears a few weeks after infection. While in others it persists for months.
Due to the above, it has been suspected that, like other discomforts, parosmia could be a sequel to Covid-19 that lasts a lifetime. Although at the moment it is very risky to offer a definitive answer. Further research and long-term follow-up of patients is still required.