According to data shared by the CDC last year, around 34% of patients who contracted COVID between 2020 and 2023 reported losing their sense of smell.

Many individuals who lost their sense of smell when infected with COVID-19 show structural and functional brain alterations on imaging, according to new work published in Nature. Now, experts are concerned that the symptoms could be associated with long-term brain alterations. In a group of people who reported anosmia as one of their COVID symptoms, experts recently observed an association between the loss of smell and decreased functional activity during decision-making tasks, reduced cortical thickness and other neural measures.

  • SeptimaeusEnglish
    351·
    3 months ago

    Is “structural alterations” a delicate way of saying “damage?”

    • Steven Saus@midwest.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      It can be, but isn’t necessarily so. As an AuDHD (autism + ADHD) person, I have “structural alterations” that result in things being different in ways that can be positive or negative. The brain is also EXTREMELY plastic and able to adjust to a lot. That said, the short-run effects are almost always going to be inconvenient at best for the person in question.