I want to ask, partly because we have many smart, well informed Bernds posting, and ofc because Rusbernd was effected by this:
How covid causes smell loss?
Literally never heard any illness that causes the loss of that. Upper respiratory diseases can alter it, since they frequently come with the inflammation of the area with the receptors, or causing the production of pus that can smell bad. But to take away the sensing ability is new.
I did a lazy search, among the first hits was university of Penn or Penn Medicine of whatever, but it said very little, writing viruses can enter those cells and damage them. But this brings back to previous point, that they alter the sensation and not end it.
So is there a satisfying answer to this?