Researchers find genetic link to COVID-induced loss of smell and taste | TheHill - The Hill

A new study suggests that a particular locus near two olfactory genes increases a person's chance of losing smell or taste after contracting the virus.

A team of researchers have identified a genetic risk factor that increased the odds a person would lose their sense of smell or taste after a COVID-19 infection by 11 percent, according to a study recently published in the journal Nature Genetics. .

The loss of smell and or taste is a common early symptom of a COVID-19 infection with one study claiming that up to over a million people have lost their sense of smell for six months or more after contracting the virus. !

Researchers note that the study is biased toward people of European ancestry and loss of smell or taste were combined in a single survey question.  

“Loss of smell without loss of taste may be distinct from loss of both or loss of taste without loss of smell,” the study says. “Given this, it is unclear if our findings relate more strongly to one symptom or the other.”