People infected with SARS-CoV-2 often lose their sense of taste and smell. This is what the virologist Prof. Hendrik Streeck from the University of Bonn told the "Ärzte-Zeitung". Meanwhile, British physicians have also confirmed this. Two-thirds of the patients from the severely affected Heinsberg district in North Rhine-Westphalia interviewed by Streeck had reported a loss of smell and taste, the virologist said. He interviewed more than 100 patients with mild symptoms from Heinsberg. Presumably, the symptoms would only appear later in the course of the infection. In South Korea, 30 percent of those infected reported these limitations. Wine connoisseurs whose sensory abilities are suddenly severely limited are therefore advised to have themselves tested immediately.
However, the British scientist Dr. Claire Hopkins of the British Rhinological Society gives the all-clear: "This is a temporary symptom. It can be very severe at first, but in most patients the sense of smell and taste normalises within about two weeks."
(uka)