Researchers Say Long-Term Taste Loss After COVID-19 Likely Tied To Olfactory Epithelium Damage, Not Taste Buds

MedPage Today (4/23, George) reports, “Taste dysfunction was gone 1 year after exposure to COVID-19, but smell loss remained for some people, a national cross-sectional study showed.” Specifically, “olfactory dysfunction was present in 30.3% of individuals with prior COVID-19 compared with 21% of those who had no history of COVID infection...noted” researchers in JAMA Network Open. As a result, “long-term taste loss after COVID may reflect damage to olfactory epithelium, not taste buds, the researchers suggested.”