Immune Response Could Be , the Cause of Persistent , Loss of Smell From COVID.<br />NBC reports that COVID has taken away some people's sense of smell for months. Now a research group at <br />Duke Health believes they might understand why.<br />The team found evidence that inflammation <br />and immune response continued <br />long after the virus was gone. .<br />NBC reports that the new research could <br />lead to the development of drugs designed <br />to address the persistent loss of smell.<br />I think that answers the question <br />‘What’s different about these people? <br />What is damaged and how <br />we might go about fixing that? <br />We clearly see a persistent <br />unresolved local immune response, Dr. Bradley Goldstein, an author of the paper and an <br />associate professor in Duke University’s department <br />of head and neck surgery and communication sciences, via NBC.<br />According to Dr. Bradley Goldstein, an author of the paper and <br />an associate professor at Duke University, those suffering from <br />persistent loss of smell had fewer olfactory cells than normal.<br />Instead, the team found more local <br />immune cells in the olfactory lining <br />than expected. .<br />What remains unclear is why the immune system <br />is responding this way and how COVID is affecting <br />the system that replaces olfactory neurons. .<br />NBC reports that the loss of taste or smell <br />can profoundly impact people's lives.<br />Loss of smell can have major <br />detrimental effects on people's emotional <br />and psychological well-being.<br />According to a recent study published in the 'BMJ,' 5% of <br />patients with COVID suffered "persistent dysfunction" to <br />their sense of taste or smell that lasted over six months
