The recovered from COVID-19 doctor feels only unpleasant smells

It is well-known that after the infection the sense of smell returns only after the recovery. The case with the doctor Douglas Dietrich is unique. He has recovered after the disease but still cannot feel the smells. He feels only unpleasant smells.

Douglas Dietrich is a hepatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He got infected in March and now he feels good. The recovery started after several weeks of intense therapy. On day, he took off his shoes and felt an unpleasant smell. He thought the sense of smell had finally restored. But he didn’t feel the smell of oranges on the nightstand in the ward.

Only after visiting a neurologist Douglas realized what had happened. It turned out that people have two smell channels: one for pleasant and one for unpleasant. And the virus affects either the olfactory nerve, which is responsible for capturing smells, or the cells around this nerve.