How COVID-19 smell, taste loss differs from common cold decoded

Common cold usually involves a sore throat, a stuffy nose, a low fever and body ache -- all such symptoms are also seen in the Covid 19 patients. This confusion has led to a delay in detection and primary care in the early stages of novel coronavirus patients.

However, now a new study has cleared that confusion. As per the new study, although COVID-19 patients may lose their sense of smell, they can breathe freely, do not tend to have a runny or blocked nose, and cannot detect bitter or sweet tastes.

The team carried out smell and taste tests on 10 COVID-19 patients, 10 people with bad colds and a control group of 10 healthy people -- all matched for age and sex. The study is the first to compare how people with COVID-19 smell and taste disorders differ from those with other causes of upper respiratory tract infections, according to the researchers, including those from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK.

The findings, published in the journal Rhinology, lend weight to the theory that COVID-19 infects the brain and central nervous system. Another research last month had claimed that anxious behaviour or depressed mood in COVID-19 patients may be a sign that the virus affects the central nervous system.

The findings may help provide an alternative when conventional tests are not available or when rapid screening is needed - particularly at the level of primary care, in emergency departments or at airports.