French study says smell returns to Covid patients within 1 year

• A French medical study has determined that one year after contracting Covid, nearly all patients in the study had regained their sense of smell
• As smell did not quickly return to many Covid patients, there were mounting concerns that the loss of smell could be permanent
• Only two out of the 51 patients who had been analyzed had some impaired sense of smell one year after their initial diagnosis, a study reported

PARIS, France: A French medical study has determined that one year after contracting Covid, nearly all patients in the study had regained their sense of smell.

“Persistent COVID-19-related anosmia [loss of smell] has an excellent prognosis, with nearly complete recovery at one year,” according to Dr. Marion Renaud, an otorhinolaryngologist at the University Hospitals of Strasbourg, as quoted by United Press International.

In the early months of the pandemic, doctors reported treating patients who had lost their sense of smell. Scientists speculated that the loss of smell was one identifying symptom of the illness.

As smell did not quickly return to many Covid patients, there were mounting concerns that the loss of smell could be permanent.

The new study, however, indicates that the ability fo smell eventually returns.

French researchers report that they tracked the sense of smell among 51 patients who had lost their sense of smell after contracting COVID-19.

By the fourth month after losing their sense of smell, 43 had regained a sense of smell, while another six had done so by the eight-month mark.

Only two out of the 51 patients who had been analyzed had some impaired sense of smell one year after their initial diagnosis, the study reported.

Overall, 96 percent of the patients recovered within 12 months, Renaud’s team reported.

The study was published online Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Network Open.