About 14 years ago, Chrissi Kelly lost her sense of smell after contracting a virus, leading to a diagnosis of anosmia. This condition, along with other smell disorders like hyposmia, phantosmia, and parosmia, affects up to 22 percent of the population but has often been overlooked by the medical community. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, brought significant attention to smell loss, as it became a common symptom of the virus. This has sparked new research into the sense of smell, revealing its importance not only for quality of life but also for brain health. Historically undervalued, the sense of smell is now recognized as crucial for bonding, detecting dangers, and emotional anchoring.
QUESTION: How might increased research into the sense of smell change the way we understand and treat smell disorders in the future?
When the ability to smell goes away
