As early as March, she was one of the first to raise awareness of the loss of smell as a Covid-19 disorder. Infectious disease specialist at the Paris hospital of Hôtel-Dieu, Professor Dominique Salmon-Ceron announces the launch of two studies, one on the persistence of symptoms, the other on their resurgence. She calls on the patients concerned to participate.
Can you have Covid symptoms even after you've healed?
DOMINIQUE SALMON-CERON. In most cases, they regress quickly and disappear, but for a certain number of patients, it can take longer. I am thinking of fatigue which can last more than a month, chest tightness, this feeling of weight on the chest or even anosmia, that is to say the loss of smell. It begins to subside after 5 to 10 days but we see patients, even with mild forms, in whom it persists for several weeks.
How do you explain it?
It is common to see loss of smell in people with colds. But in Covid patients who do not have a stuffy nose, it is unheard of. Several hypotheses are under study: a large inflammation lodged at the back of the nose or lesions of the olfactory branches. In the latter case, it is more annoying because the recovery period takes several months. Faced with the persistence of signs, we launched this Tuesday, with ORLs from the Rotschild Foundation and Lariboisière Hospital as well as infectiologists from the Hôtel-Dieu, the first study in France to test a treatment. I call on the affected patients to come forward. We are going to follow 120 and offer them nosewashes with corticosteroids.
Is it so frequent?
The loss of smell persists, all the same, in 10% of cases. Some remain very disabled and recover only half their capacity. Is it due to a lack of antibodies, an inadequate immune response? This is what our study conducted by a collective of infectious pathologists "Covidorl" will allow us to determine. It is coordinated by the André Grégoire intercommunal hospital center, in Montreuil.
PODCAST. What are coronaviruses? Diving under the microscope in virus biology
Patients speak frankly of relapse, evoking a Covid yoyo. Have you seen any?
Newsletter - Essential news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Yes, and several infectious diseases specialists realize this. These are not symptoms that remain but reappear. Patients, including those who have not had a severe form, complain. In 55 patients, an Asian study showed five relapses. But this number is too small to draw any conclusions. This is very rare and would not exceed a few percent. To find out, another French study is starting. Called "Cocorec", it will help to better understand this resurgence of infection, to know if the patients had other pathologies or if they made a poor immune response. We will also try to determine if they are still carriers of the virus. ( Editor's note: To participate in the study, write to: anosmie.recherche@gmail.com )
Does this mean that we should talk about chronic Covid?
No. I would rather say that it is a subacute infection, that is to say that it remains a few weeks. Several publications show a viral load that persists between 14 and 21 days but the longest, currently, even reports 63 days
