New rehabilitation programme to recover from Covid-19-induced loss of smell launched
Last May, loss of smell, also known as anosmia, was identified as an early symptom of Covid-19. Anosmia is said to affect between 40% to 80% of those who contract coronavirus and it's often accompanied by loss of taste. The severity of the symptoms can vary widely from person to person, but it's been ascertained that the loss of smell in Covid-19 patients tends to last significantly longer to when it's due to a simple cold. Indeed, those affected by coronavirus usually lose their senses for at least one to two weeks, but several weeks or months is by all means not uncommon.
Bad news for the wine, beer and spirits industry, where smelling and nosing liquids is often a key component of the everyday routine.
Thankfully, scientific research has made remarkable progress in fighting anosmia. This week, French health company Kelindi released an innovative application, open to all, that aims to help patients with coronavirus-induced prolonged anosmia recover their sense of smell quickly and effectively. The project was developed by Kelindi co-founder Fabrice Denis, Associate Professor at Paris' Faculty of Medicine, and is based on a protocol published by the Anosmie Association in September 2019.
Kelindi isn't new to Covid-19 research: they claim that their site maladiecoronavirus.fr, which was developed to help people who contract coronavirus, has already been used by 13 million people.
The new application is an online programme available through the site covidanosmie.fr and based on olfactory rehabilitation – a technique that in fact pre-dates Covid-19 in the fight of anosmia. Specifically, the rehabilitation programme consists of the inhalation, twice a day up until recovery but only for a maximum of 16 weeks, of four specific and highly concentrated essential oils. Progress is monitored on a weekly basis.
Kalindi is undertaking a clinical study of some of the patients who decide to use the covidanosmie.fr to monitor the rate and speed of recovery and, where needed, adjust the programme according to their assessments. The study is open to any to take part, however, Kalindi states that priority is currently given to French users, before the study is eventually rolled out to German-speaking and English-speaking markets.