Coronavirus loss of smell may be rooted in the brain: Study

BRUSSELS: Medical experts have finally explained why and how coronavirus, a global pandemic, affects the human ability to smell.

According to the journal, research by ULB University’s Functional Brain Mapping Laboratory has found that COVID-19 affects cells that support specific neurons. The experts mapped the brains of a dozen coronavirus patients and 26 healthy people using imaging techniques.

A study found that seven patients lost their sense of smell was the main symptom of the coronavirus. The study claimed that five patients recovered within the next ten weeks, while others had to sniff problems 16 weeks after battling the coronavirus.

Experts also stated that the virus actually affects the parts of the brain that are part of the process of sniffing. During the study, experts found that certain patients with COVID-19 had specific areas, including alveolar, alveolar bulbs, and adjacent brain tissue.

The study also indicated the possibility that the disease also affects the process of sugar metabolism for those brain cells that help in sniffing Experts have come to the conclusion that the function of nerve cell connections is also hampered by a coronavirus.

Severe forms of sniffing are associated with higher glucose metabolism in some alveolar cores.