They are scientifically called anosmia and ageusia. They are respectively loss of the sense of smell and taste, symptoms often reported by patients with COVID-19. For this to happen, how often and its clinical significance, remains a mystery to scientists. Yet, experts say, this is an important scientific issue: discovering its origins could help to understand different aspects of the action of the virus on our organism.
A useful contribution to solve the enigma could now come from all those who have or have recently had a respiratory disease, cold, flu or COVID-19. It is very easy to give your contribution. Those who have suffered from this problem can log on to this website and take part in a large study involving more than 50 countries, from New Zealand to Japan, from Africa to Italy, from the United States to South America. All it takes is just a few minutes to fill in a simple questionnaire, totally anonymous, whose data will be used by experts for an in-depth analysis of data gathered worldwide and made public.
The project was organised by the international association Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research that brings together in this Open Science initiative teams of scientists and doctors from all over the world to address the issue both from a research point of view and in its most strictly clinical aspects. The questionnaires are available in 14 languages, including Italian, destined to increase to 30 in a very short time, precisely to break down any possible language barrier and thereby encourage participation. (Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay).
The questionnaire (English version)