Scientists have figured out why coronaviruses knock out the scent of those infected.
At the beginning of the pandemic, few people took seriously the complaints of the victims of coronavirus infection about the loss of smell. The doctors laughed and treated such evidence in much the same way as their colleagues - sane scientists - to the reports of UFO eyewitnesses.
But already in April of this year, it was proved that the fact that people suddenly stop smelling, and in fact, the SARS-CoV-2 viruses that cause COVID-19 are to blame. This was reported by the authors of the study - French physicians - in an article entitled Sudden and Complete Olfactory Loss Function as a Possible Symptom of COVID-19. However, why the sense of smell disappears remained unclear. We managed to figure it out quite recently. The secret of the most mysterious symptom of an insidious disease succumbed to British scientists from the University of London and The University of Reading. What is the matter, Simon Gane and Jane Parker told The Conversation, who, figuratively speaking, delved deeper into the essence of what was happening - they found the cause of the phenomenon not in the nose, but in the brain. After all, the noses of patientsthose who lost their sense of smell, as a rule, were clean - without a runny nose. And they did not physically interfere with the normal perception of smells.
Computed tomography scans have shown that scent suppresses inflammation in the olfactory cleft, a small area high in the roof of the nose. Olfactory neurons adjoin it. But inflammation is not provoked by them, but by the so-called sustantacular cells - those on which these neurons hold onto. First of all, coronaviruses infect and infect them.
The scent knocks off the inflammation that occurs where the nasal nerve is adjacent to the outer roof of the nose.
As the immune system clears up the infection, the inflammation subsides. And the sense of smell returns - often as suddenly as it disappeared.
In severe cases, the lesion spreads to the nerve cells - the very olfactory neurons. And then the scent disappears for a long time. It recovers slowly as the olfactory neurons regenerate from stem cells, which are stored in the nasal mucosa.
The recovery process can sometimes be accompanied by a distortion of the sense of smell - parosmia. This is when something familiar starts to "smell" differently. Coffee, for example, by sewers, cigarette smoke - burnt semolina.
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Smell damage is not a good sign
People who have become difficult to distinguish smells do not linger in this world. They usually die within the next five years. Such, to put it mildly, an unexpected result was given by studies conducted at the University of Chicago Medical Center back in 2014 - long before the harmful SARS-CoV-2 appeared that hit humanity with COVID-19.
Scientists surveyed 3,005 elderly Americans - men and women - between the ages of 57 and 85, working as part of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project. Among others, the subjects took tests for smell. They had to distinguish and name five scents that exuded special sticks that resembled felt-tip pens. They smelled like mint, fish, orange, rose and leather.
Three-quarters of those surveyed had good sense of smell. They correctly recognized smells: 46 percent - five smells out of five, 29 percent - four out of five. This is considered normal.
About 20 percent found it difficult: they recognized two or three smells out of five. This is the average. About 4 percent barely recognized one odor. And a little more than a percent of those surveyed did not smell anything at all. The tests were carried out in 2006. In 2011, scientists again turned to their participants. By this time, that is, in five years, 430 people had died. And it turned out that the maximum losses, regardless of age, were suffered by those whose sense of smell was seriously impaired. This "problem group" missed 39 percent of its members. For comparison, among people with average rates, 19 percent died, and among those who had a normal sense of smell, only 10 percent died.
“Of course, the loss of smell in itself does not lead to death,” said the head of the research, Professor Jayant M. Pinto, but signals her approach, indicating that something has gone wrong in the body.
What exactly went wrong, scientists then did not exactly clarify. It was only suggested that the problems with the sense of smell are somehow connected with the activity of stem cells - indicates their deficiency. Which, as it has now become clear, was to some extent very close to the truth. Deficiency leads to the fact that the body loses its ability to heal itself. And this ends in death.
But who knows, maybe the root cause of the loss of smell also lies in some kind of viral infection that causes inflammation that affects the olfactory neurons, so that they do not recover.
Smell damage is not a good sign
People who have become difficult to distinguish smells do not linger in this world. They usually die within the next five years. Such, to put it mildly, an unexpected result was given by studies conducted at the University of Chicago Medical Center back in 2014 - long before the harmful SARS-CoV-2 appeared that hit humanity with COVID-19.
Scientists surveyed 3,005 elderly Americans - men and women - between the ages of 57 and 85, working as part of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project. Among others, the subjects took tests for smell. They had to distinguish and name five scents that exuded special sticks that resembled felt-tip pens. They smelled like mint, fish, orange, rose and leather.
Three-quarters of those surveyed had good sense of smell. They correctly recognized smells: 46 percent - five smells out of five, 29 percent - four out of five. This is considered normal.
About 20 percent found it difficult: they recognized two or three smells out of five. This is the average. About 4 percent barely recognized one odor. And a little more than a percent of those surveyed did not smell anything at all. The tests were carried out in 2006. In 2011, scientists again turned to their participants. By this time, that is, in five years, 430 people had died. And it turned out that the maximum losses, regardless of age, were suffered by those whose sense of smell was seriously impaired. This "problem group" missed 39 percent of its members. For comparison, among people with average rates, 19 percent died, and among those who had a normal sense of smell, only 10 percent died.
“Of course, the loss of smell in itself does not lead to death,” said the head of the research, Professor Jayant M. Pinto, but signals her approach, indicating that something has gone wrong in the body.
What exactly went wrong, scientists then did not exactly clarify. It was only suggested that the problems with the sense of smell are somehow connected with the activity of stem cells - indicates their deficiency. Which, as it has now become clear, was to some extent very close to the truth. Deficiency leads to the fact that the body loses its ability to heal itself. And this ends in death.
But who knows, maybe the root cause of the loss of smell also lies in some kind of viral infection that causes inflammation that affects the olfactory neurons, so that they do not recover.
QUOTE IN THE TOPIC
The temple is still doing the work.
But hands fell
And in a flock, obliquely,
Smells and sounds are leaving …
(Bella Akhmadulina, Farewell)
