Loss of smell, or anosmia, is one of the earliest and most commonly reported symptoms of COVID-19. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS, Inserm, Université de Paris and the Paris Public Hospital Network (AP-HP) determined the mechanisms involved in the loss of smell in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 at different stages of the disease. They discovered that SARS-CoV-2 infects sensory neurons and causes persistent epithelial and olfactory nervous system inflammation. Furthermore, in some patients with persistent clinical signs, anosmia is associated with prolonged epithelial and olfactory nervous system inflammation and lasting presence of the virus in the olfactory epithelium.
This study unexpectedly demonstrates that nasopharyngeal swabs may test negative by standard RT-qPCR even if the virus is still present at the back of the nasal cavities, in the olfactory epithelium.
Research paper– COVID-19-related anosmia is associated with viral persistence and inflammation in human olfactory epithelium and brain infection in hamsters
