©Belgaimage
The Covid-19 crisis seems far. But for some, symptoms persist. This is particularly the case for 5% of patients who have lost their sense of smell. After six months and sometimes long rehabilitations, the pleasure of smells has still not returned. To understand this phenomenon, researchers stopped for a moment in front of these smeared nasal cavities.
They then studied the cells present in the nose of people who were still suffering. A strong presence of immune cells and the absence of the virus itself open up lines of thought. Three types of cells are involved in a good sense of smell. They are the ones that detect odors to transmit them to the brain. It is these cells that are affected in the case of persistent symptoms. ” The olfactory tissue of patients with long Covid-like loss of smell contained unique immune cells producing inflammatory signals“, explains one of the doctors in charge of this research.
A treatment soon?
In addition, the researchers notice an anomaly concerning the low or high presence of immune cells. “It seems that there is an unresolved local immune response, which affects the delicate olfactory cells “, and this response would work like an autoimmune disease that turns against itself.
During these expertises, it was also found in the vast majority of patients that despite the effective loss of smell, they had kept a small part of their olfactory cells intact. This discovery suggests a gradual return of the sense of smell.
The care to be provided could take the form of local applications to restore the environment conducive to immune cells. This could restore the lost meaning but also prevent its alteration.