The study conducted by researchers from Columbia University was published in the journal PLOS ONE. The study has shown that Covid survivors who experienced loss of smell and taste were twice as likely to have antibodies, long after the infection.

The study

The study by researchers from Columbia University involved 306 adults who had a Covid infection in the first months of the pandemic. About two-thirds of the people in the study reported suffering from loss of smell or taste when they were infected by the Coronavirus.

The study participants were then invited for an antibody blood test at least two weeks after their infection had passed.

Covid antibody levels wane over time. This makes someone infected with the virus eventually test negative for the virus-fighting proteins.

Antibody test results were available for 266 of the 306 participants. Of these, 176 tested positive for Covid-fighting antibodies. On the other hand, 90 participants tested negative.

The observation

The study findings showed 71% of those who reported a loss of taste or smell had Covid antibodies. On the other hand, out of those who didn’t report these symptoms, just 57 percent tested positive for the Covid-fighting antibodies.

This shows that people who lost their sense of taste and smell were about 100 percent more likely to test positive for Covid-fighting antibodies than those who did not experience these symptoms.

Loss of taste and smell were more common symptoms in the early stages of the pandemic. Due to vaccinations and new Covid variants, these symptoms have now become less common.

This makes the relevance of the new study unclear since the participants did not get vaccinated and the virus has also mutated since the early months of the pandemic.

India on Sunday detected 176 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the country’s cumulative tally to 4,46,75,952, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.