VCU researchers found that loss of smell and taste are no longer common symptoms of COVID-19.
The findings, published May 26 in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, found that recent omicron variants have smell and taste loss at only 6 percent to 7 percent of early-stage variants. Six variants were examined: alpha, delta, omicron K, omicron L, omicron C and omicron B.
"Our research has shown that incidents of COVID-related smell and taste loss have dramatically changed over the course of the pandemic, to the point now that smell loss is no longer a common symptom of infection," lead author Evan Reiter, MD, medical director of Richmond, Va.-based VCU Health’s Smell and Taste Disorders Center, said in a July 14 hospital news release.