The smell of Covid

No I haven’t I ve been around 6 members of the family who had CoviD and nothing so yes maybe a little witch or a sniffer dog in little girls clothing

Dogs can smell disease so I wouldn't be surprised if someone who is ill or incubating and illness may give off a slightly different odour.

She must have an acute sense of smell.

That's amazing. Having seen a young child cuddling happily up to her dad who stank I always thought young children had a poor sense of smell. And my grandchildren never seemed to notice smells when they were young, though 9 isn't very young of course. She certainly has a good nose. Just out of interest why not try testing her sense of smell to see if she can pick up subtle smells.

That's so interesting. We know sense of smell varies from person to person. What would be interesting is if she'd could ever detect the smell on a non family member. I remember seeing the film of the "Covid dogs" in training, I don't recall ever seeing them utilised, which seems an awful shame since in the trials they had an amazing accuracy.

DH and I were discussing the "can you small asparagus pee" thing earlier. We especially love British asparagus and eat loads while it's in season, he can smell it on our urine, I can't.

When I had Covid I could smell exhaust fumes, absolutely horrid, the smell was so strong. MrOops lost his sense of smell so couldn’t tell me if it was me or not! But it was in my nose until after I tested negative.
Some days since then I’ve had ‘off days’ and I can smell a different smell now, MrOops says it isn’t me but it’s still in my nose, can’t place the smell but it’s horrid and it happens every time I’m unwell with the same Covid symptoms as I had before, but tests are now negative.

Rosie51

DH and I were discussing the "can you small asparagus pee" thing earlier. We especially love British asparagus and eat loads while it's in season, he can smell it on our urine, I can't.

Oh yes, definitely.

I've heard of a woman who is able to smell Parkinson's disease.
Very interesting- lots of cases of dogs and cats detecting cancer before it's diagnosed.

Another yes from me re asparagus.

It is interesting, isn't it.

I have a couple of questions that I want to ask DGD about this next time I speak to her.

The first relates to colds. I remember that my children, when young, used to have a very specific odour ( that seemed strong to me) whenever they had colds. I am wondering if she has ever noticed that smell on the family, and if the covid smell is similar.

The other is how long she could smell it for. Her dad was still testing positive for covid over two weeks after it began - could she smell it all of that time?

Oh, and I've thought of a third question. Did she smell it on her brother, who only tested positive for a few days?

*Chestnut*
" Just out of interest why not try testing her sense of smell to see if she can pick up subtle smells. "

That's an interesting idea. She does seem to have quite a sensitive sense of taste (picky eater), so it wouldn't surprise me if her sense of smell is similar.

I wonder if her being a picky eater ties in with a strong sense of smell?

I have a very keen sense of smell. I could tell you which of my children is in the same room if I couldn’t see them. Orlin has had 5 DVTs, I sensed a peculiar smell before the first was diagnosed and recognised the same smell each time thereafter. I could smell death up to three weeks before my paternal grandparents, both parents in law, my own parents and a close friend died. I remember people by smell. If someone talks about a memory I smell the scene before I see it.
Just writing this made me think about my sister, who died recently, I can smell her. Sounds awful in print but is rather nice.
Our youngest son seems to have the same sensitive nose.

Im not a picky eater. Can tolerate most smells including sewage, if I have to, but can’t bear the smell of vomit.

The first relates to colds. I remember that my children, when young, used to have a very specific odour ( that seemed strong to me) whenever they had colds. I am wondering if she has ever noticed that smell on the family, and if the covid smell is similar.
Yes, I've heard DIL say she can do that OldnProud, can tell if one of the children is incubating a cold.

I had this perfume in my nose when I had Covid. Funny enough it was actually quite a pleasant floral smell. I couldn’t taste anything at all though.

Wow! That is certainly amazing. I know certain dogs can sniff out an illness.

Finland were, I believe, training dogs to pick out people that had covid. Not sure if they carried on with it.

Apparently I had chickenpox badly when I was 6 or 7. I remember thinking there was a smell associated with it, but nobody else could smell anything. I've had shingles more than once, but didn't notice the smell then.

Dogs can smell Covid, so perhaps some people with a particularly acute sense of small can too.

Some people can smell Parkinsons (smells musty) and dementia (smells of rye bread, apparently). There is also an acknowledged 'old people' smell that is linked to a particular molecule that we produce more abundantly as we age and many of us would recognise that. Some years ago there was a report that there was a particular smell produced by people with schizophrenia: I think that may have been debunked.

That's amazing Laura.