Paris (AFP)

The loss of smell, or anosmia, one of the symptoms of Covid-19, deprives you of the "odors of life", an invisible handicap but "psychologically difficult to live with" and which does not have its own treatment.

"What I miss most is the smell of my sons when I kiss them, it's the smell of my wife's body, the smell of my dad. Anosmia cuts you off from the odors of life , it is torture ", confides to AFP Jean-Michel Maillard, president of the association" Anosmie.org ".

Also finished the pleasures of everyday life like the scent of coffee in the morning, the freshly cut lawn or even "the so reassuring smell of soap on your skin when you are preparing for an appointment" ... "We discover the smell when you lose it, "regrets this forties, who became anosmic following an accident. Not to mention the problem of not being able to detect gas, smoke or an improperly washed garbage can.

Meals are also disturbed because 90% of what we eat is related to smell. "Differentiating a Bordeaux from a Burgundy, differentiating a beef stew from a Marengo veal is like smelling," notes Alain Corré, ENT specialist at the Rothschild Hospital-Foundation in Paris.

"There are dozens of causes of anosmia," says the specialist, citing nasal polyposis, chronic rhinitis, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's ... and now Covid-19.

In this case, it is even a pathognomonic symptom, that is to say a clinical sign which, by itself, makes it possible to establish the diagnosis.

"When people lose their sense of smell and there is no recovery, there is a real deterioration in the quality of life and a rate of depression that is by no means negligible," adds Alain Corré.

The problem is when this handicap sets in: "being deprived of smell for a month, it doesn't matter. Two months, it starts to be annoying. But after 6 months, you are all alone, under a glass bell, "says Jean-Michel Maillard. "There is a very difficult psychological dimension to living with, you have to get help."

- A hope -

There is no specific treatment for smell disorder. The cause must be treated, but "the problem with anosmias linked to the virus is that often the treatment of viral infection has no effect on smell", specifies Dr Corré.

"According to the first figures, about 80% of patients with Covid-19 recover spontaneously, in less than a month and often even quickly in 8-10 days," notes the doctor.

For the others, it would seem that the olfactory neurons, which act as an odor detector, have been destroyed by the coronavirus. But the huge advantage that nature has given us is that these neurons, placed at the bottom of our nose, have a capacity for regeneration.

The Parisian hospitals Rothschild and Lariboisière have set up a "CovidORL" study and are testing the effectiveness of nose washes with cortisone (budesonide), associated with olfactory rehabilitation. A treatment which has proven its effectiveness on post-cold anosmia, "a hope", for Alain Corré.

The olfactory rehabilitation allows to continue stimulating cognitive functions, associative pathways that combine memory and smell, develops the ENT.

His advice: choose five smells in your kitchen - which you like - like cinnamon, thyme, bay leaf ... Breathe them twice a day, for 5 to 10 minutes, watching what you are breathe.

With Hirac Gurden, director of research in neurosciences at CNRS, the association "Anosmie.org" has also made available on its site a rehabilitation protocol based on diluted essential oils, based on the work of researcher Thomas Hummel (Dresden ).

"As early as March, we received several hundred phone calls, emails from people who had the Covid and who called for help because they no longer felt anything," recalls Hirac Gurden.

Last winter, Jean-Michel Maillard finished rehabilitation with four smells. "Today, I have ten: fish, cigarettes, rose essential oil ... and I even found a perfume that I smell!", He rejoices.

© 2020 AFP