Mensa's World Gathering 2021

Sessions Speakers Floor Plan Buzz

The Science of Smell Loss (Room Lanier Grand Ballroom K)

27 Aug 21
6:00 PM - 7:15 PM

Tracks: Speaker (Non-Member)

Covid-19 has damaged the chemosensory system (smell and taste) in greater than 90 percent of patients. While most patients have regained their sense of smell and taste, many patients continue to suffer from persistent deficits. This talk will discuss the remarkable specificity of and introductory science about our sense of smell, with olfactory receptors encoded by more than 1,000 genes. We will discuss how SARS-CoV-2 manages to damage our sense of smell despite olfactory neurons lacking a binding site for the virus. Finally, we’ll discuss simple strategies to help people regain their damaged sense of smell and taste.