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Elaf from Beirut: Mystery still surrounds the link between infection with the Corona virus and the loss of the senses of smell and taste, but a recent study has determined the cause of this symptom that characterizes “Covid 19” disease, more than two years following its global spread.
The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, revealed that the reason for people infected with the Corona virus to lose their senses of smell and taste is due to a genetic factor.
Researchers from 23andMe, which specializes in genomics and biotechnology, analyzed data from 69,841 individuals in the United States and Britain who participated in a questionnaire following testing positive for corona, and compared the percentage of those who reported a loss of taste or smell with those who did not appear.
Among those who tested positive for coronavirus, 68 percent of respondents reported a loss of taste or smell, and women interviewed were 11 percent more likely to report symptoms than men, knowing that regarding 73 percent are between 26 and 35 years old.
genetic differences
The researchers noted that those of East Asian or African American descent were less likely to report a loss of smell or taste, compared to individuals of European descent.
The research team compared genetic differences between those who reported a loss of taste or smell with those who did not, and found a point near the UGT2A1 and UGT2A2 genes associated with this symptom following infection with corona.
The study authors acknowledged that “it is unclear how genes play a role in the physiology of affected cells, and the functional impairment resulting from the disease, which contributes to the loss of the ability to smell.”
Commenting on the study’s findings, Danielle Reed, associate director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, said: “Previous research has shown that loss of taste and smell is associated with a failure to protect the sensory cells of the nose and tongue from viral infection.”
“This study points in a different direction. The pathways that break down the chemicals that cause taste and smell in the first place may be overactive or inactive, reducing or distorting the ability to taste and smell,” Fox News reported.
But the study is flawed by its reliance on subjective opinion polls without clinical assessments of the participants, and the inability to separate loss of taste from smell, because both were included in one question.
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