Discover Magazine Learn how researchers may have finally uncovered why some people experience long-lasting taste loss after COVID-19. A common symptom that many experienced during a COVID-19 infection was a loss of taste. While most affected individuals regained their sense of taste within a few weeks, some experienced a persistent loss over several months. If a COVID-19-related taste dysfunction lasts longer than three months, it is a recognized symptom of Long COVID.
Now, researchers from Sweden and the U.S. have uncovered molecular and structural changes in some taste buds of patients with taste abnormalities after a COVID-19 infection, offering the first plausible explanation for why a small group of people lost their taste for an unusually long time.
The study, published in Chemical Senses, is a crucial step toward understanding the molecular causes behind COVID-19-related taste dysfunction, paving the way for developing treatments to mitigate patients’ taste loss.