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The £1.25m study, being led by the University of Derby, is trialling antiviral medications as a treatment for symptoms of long COVID Professor Ian Maidment from Aston Pharmacy School is the lead pharmacist and will provide support for the clinical trials It is estimated that more than 2m people in the UK and more than 144m globally live with long COVID Professor Ian Maidment, at Aston Pharmacy School, is the lead pharmacist on a groundbreaking research project looking to find a treatment for symptoms of long COVID, which is being led by the University of Derby. The £1.25m trial, which is the first of its kind in the UK, is exploring whether antiviral medications can be used as an effective treatment option for patients diagnosed with long COVID. It is estimated that more than 2m people in the UK and more than 144m globally live with long COVID and almost a quarter of sufferers have had their symptoms for more than two years. Symptoms are broad and include extreme fatigue and breathlessness, palpitations, and brain fog. The trial, which began in September 2024, is part of a wider programme of groundbreaking research being led by the University of Derby. Involving 72 patients, the research is trialling the use of an antiviral drug that can be given to those admitted to hospital because of a COVID-19 infection. As most people experience a community infection and are not hospitalised, they do not have a way to access this medication. By taking the drug out of the acute admission setting, the researchers are hoping to see whether it can help those living with long COVID and alleviate some of the symptoms that they are living with. During the trial, patients undergo a series of assessments at the University of Derby’s specialist facilities before attending the hospital to receive the antiviral drug intravenously for five consecutive days, delivered in collaboration with experts from University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust. Researchers from the University of Exeter are also involved, and the study is being managed by the University of Plymouth’s Peninsula Clinical Trials Unit. Professor Maidment will provide support for the clinical trials. Patients recruited in Exeter will undertake detailed body scans, which will be analysed to check if the antiviral medication has reduced inflammation, which may occur in people with long COVID. Mark Faghy, professor in clinical exercise science at the University of Derby and the study lead, said: “The impact long COVID has on the lives of patients is huge. For many, it can be debilitating, interfering with work, family life, and socialising, and millions are suffering across the world. Yet, at present, there are no confirmed treatments for the condition. Five years on from the start of the pandemic, long COVID remains a significant health and societal challenge, which is why this project is so important. “This is an ongoing project with various phases and is still in its infancy, but we are excited to have taken the first steps to hopefully improve the quality of life for those living with long COVID.” Professor David Strain, clinical lead based at the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “There is a clear need for people living with long COVID and we hope from this study we can see a reduction in the symptoms people experience. It will be an ongoing project with various phases, but we are excited to be taking the first steps to improve patients' quality of life.” Professor Ian Maidment, Aston Pharmacy School, said: “We need clinical trials to develop new and effective treatments for long COVID. Pharmacy support is critical for the successful delivery of these studies.” Over the past four years, Professor Faghy and his team at the University of Derby have conducted a series of international studies to explore the impacts of acute and long COVID, looking to understand the causes and contributing factors of long COVID by bringing clinical insight together with the lived experience of patients.
New Aston University spin-out company will develop novel ways to treat non-healing wounds
EVolution Therapeutics (EVo) has been founded on the work of Professor Andrew Devitt into the causes of inflammatory disease A failure to control inflammation in the body, usually a natural defence mechanism, can cause chronic inflammation, such as non-healing wounds Non-healing wounds cost the NHS £5.6bn annually, so there is a vital need for new treatments. Aston University’s Professor Andrew Devitt, Dr Ivana Milic and Dr James Gavin have launched a new spin-out company to develop revolutionary treatments to treat chronic inflammation in patients. One of the most common inflammatory conditions is non-healing wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers, which cost the NHS £5.6bn annually, the same cost as managing obesity. Such wounds are generally just dressed, but clinicians say there is a vital need for active wound treatments, rather than passive management. The spin-out, Evolution Therapeutics (EVo), will aim to create these vital active treatments. Inflammation in the human body helps to fight infection and repair damage following injury and occurs when the immune system floods the area with immune cells. Normally, this inflammation subsides as the damage heals, with the immune system signalling to the immune cells to leave. However, in some cases, the usual healing mechanism is not triggered and the inflammatory response is not turned off, leading to chronic inflammation and so-called inflammatory diseases. EVo is based on Professor Devitt’s work on dying cells in the body, known as apoptotic cells, and how they contribute to health. Dying cells release small, membrane-enclosed fragments called extracellular vesicles (EVs), which alert the immune system to the death of cells, and then trigger the body’s natural repair mechanism and remove the dead cells. It is estimated that 1m cells die every second. Professor Devitt and his team have identified the molecules within the EVs which control the healing process and are engineering new EVs loaded with novel healing enzymes, to drive the body’s repair responses to actively heal wounds. Much of the research has been funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) with additional support from the Dunhill Medical Trust. Professor Devitt, Dr Milic and Dr Gavin received Innovation-to-Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) follow-on funding of £284,000 to develop the vesicle-based therapy with EVo. Most recently, in December 2023, Professor Devitt and Dr Milic were awarded £585,000 from the BBSRC Super Follow-on-Fund to develop engineered cells as a source of membrane vesicles carrying inflammation controlling cargo. The team, together with Professor Paul Topham, also received funding from the National Engineering Biology Programme (£237,000) to support polymer delivery systems for vesicles. EVo is one of the 12 projects being supported by SPARK The Midlands, a network which aims to bridge the gap between medical research discoveries of novel therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics, and real-world clinical use. SPARK The Midlands is hosted at Aston University, supported by the West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator (WMHTIA), and was launched at an event on 31 January 2024. Professor Devitt, EVo chief technical officer, said: “Inflammation is the major driver of almost all disease with a huge contribution to those unwelcome consequences of ageing. We are now at a most exciting time in our science where we can harness all the learning from our research to develop targeted and active therapies for these chronic inflammatory conditions.” Dr Gavin, EVo CEO, said: “The chronic inflammation that results in non-healing wounds are a huge health burden to individuals affecting quality of life as we age but also to the economy. Our approach at EVo is to target the burden of non-healing wounds directly to provide completely novel approaches to wound care treatment. By developing a therapy which actively accelerates wound healing, we hope to drastically improve quality of life for patients, whilst reducing the high cost attached to long term treatment for healthcare systems worldwide.”
Jacqueline Ortiz Honored for Increasing Patient Access to Interpreter Services
Fifty-eight years ago, a young man from Argentina wound up in surgery at a California hospital after stomach pains turned out to be peritonitis, a potentially life-threatening inflammation of the membrane lining the abdominal wall. He was discharged to his wife’s care, with one problem — neither the man nor his wife had any idea how to care for the open wound in his abdomen. Jacqueline Ortiz The couple did not understand the lengthy instructions delivered in English, and there was no interpreter to explain to them in their native Spanish what to expect. So, when the man tried to take a bath and discovered the gauze was stuck to his wound, he didn’t know what to do. Fear and uncertainty compounded an already stressful time. Jacqueline Ortiz wasn’t yet born when her father’s health care emergency took place, but growing up she heard the story over and over. It was more than family lore for Ortiz — it was a lesson. Ortiz said she wanted her mother, pictured with her at the DVTA event, to see the growing number of people working as interpreters to ensure people get the information they need in the language they understand. Ortiz, now the vice president for Health Equity and Cultural Competence at ChristianaCare, saw firsthand how the experience left her parents terrified of the medical environment. Removing barriers to good health Years later, Ortiz is a leader in advocating for patients to have access to qualified, culturally responsive medical interpreting services to remove communication barriers with providers and ensure the best possible care and outcomes. “Language access is what fills my heart and soul,” Ortiz said. Her pioneering efforts and enthusiasm for promoting the use of trained interpreters in health care earned Ortiz the inaugural Making an Impact Award from the Delaware Valley Translators Association (DVTA) during an event Sept. 9 at Widener University. In her role at ChristianaCare, she builds the organization’s capacity to reduce the incidence of disease and improve health outcomes, advance equitable health care services, and reduce health disparities for identified conditions and target populations through culturally competent care, including providing health care in patients’ native languages. She has over 20 years of experience researching, teaching and working in cultural competence and health equity, social networks, and economic sociology. “Language access is what fills my heart and soul,” Ortiz said. A vision for serving everyone Eliane Sfeir-Markus, CHI, president of the DVTA, said the award recognizes the efforts of those working to make interpreting and translation more available to people with limited English proficiency, and those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Ortiz’s pioneering work to expand language services for patients and implement comprehensive cultural competence training at ChristianaCare have set a standard for caring for patients in their native languages. “Jaki’s vision for a health care system that truly serves everyone, regardless of their cultural or linguistic background, is inspiring,” Sfeir-Markus said. “We as patients deserve someone who knows our culture to take care of us.” ChristianaCare has more than 20 health care interpreters and over 100 caregivers who have undergone additional training to provide interpreting services when needed. ChristianaCare has more than 20 health care interpreters — who wear eggplant-colored uniforms — and over 100 bilingual caregivers who have undergone special training to serve as interpreters in some settings. “Jaki is a well-known name in the field of interpreting and translation because she has advocated for education and professionalization of interpreters in health care,” said Claudia Reyes-Hull, MArch, CMI, CHI, manager of Cultural and Linguistic Programs at ChristianaCare. “Thanks to her advocacy, more health care systems are recognizing the need to have trained interpreters for their patients.” In accepting the award, Ortiz said interpreters play a critical role in health care by making it possible for patients — and their families — to take an active role in their own care and decrease the anxiety over visiting a health care provider. She credited the success of ChristianaCare’s interpreting and translations services and its continued growth to the collaborative spirit and camaraderie among its team of caregivers, particularly Reyes-Hull. Ortiz said her family’s personal experience with a lack of interpreting services during a hospital stay made them anxious about health care for years. “Probably all of us in this room have walked into a courtroom or a lawyer’s office or a hospital room or a clinic and introduced ourselves and seen that immediate response and relaxation in the person we were speaking with,” Ortiz said to the translators at the DVTA event. “You make those interactions within our legal, educational and health care systems so much better.”
#Expert Research: Can CBD effectively impede growth of heterotopic lung cancer?
Lung cancer is the most chronic form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality in the world, according to studies by the American Lung Association. Despite recent advances in medical oncology, metastatic lung cancer remains incurable; however, a new discovery by Augusta University researchers has brought new hope to tackling the illness. That discovery, which stems from a joint preclinic study conducted by scientists from the Dental College of Georgia and the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and Medicinal Cannabis of Georgia, LLC, was published in the May 2023 issue of Human Cell. The study was led by Babak Baban, PhD, associate dean of research, immunologist and professor at DCG and one of the founders of Medicinal Cannabis of Georgia, an Augusta-based biomedical research and developmental company. The study revealed for the first time that inhalant cannabidiol, commonly referred to as CBD, can effectively impede growth of heterotopic lung cancer. “The central core of our research has been studying inflammatory diseases and for that we picked two different directions: one is centered around chronic inflammation in our system and the other is neurologic diseases such as dementia. Because of their impressive anti-inflammation effects, CBD, CBC and other cannabinoids have attracted our attention,” Baban said. “We have had some exciting findings before, and based on those, we built a new model of lung cancer. This is the first time the effect of the CBD has been assessed in inhalant format using an inhaler. This makes it more translatable into humans and more accurate,” he said. “Obviously, we are just as excited about our discoveries on mechanisms by which CBD worked. They help advance our understanding of the pathophysiology of lung cancer. We have seen some effects on plasticity and cancer stem cells, which appear to be crucial for tumors to regenerate and renew themselves.” Unlike most anti-angiogenesis drugs, inhalant CBD at the experimental dosage did not show any detectable side effects or toxicity. The findings support the notion that inhalant CBD has enough beneficial effects as a viable complementary modality to be included in combination with current standard treatments for lung cancer. Additionally, inhalant CBD delivered using a precisely metered dose is non-invasive, and has high translational value, warranting further research through clinical trials for lung cancer and possibly some other malignancies. “The cannabis plant has over 113 cannabinoids, two of which are very famous: THC and cannabidiol, or CBD. We have conducted extensive research on medicinal cannabis since 2014, but cannabis has been utilized for medicinal purposes for over 1,000 years,” Baban said. “It is not until recently we have started understanding a little better mechanisms how cannabidiols like CBD work.” Babak Baban is a professor, immunologist and associate dean for research at the Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University where he has served for 13 of his 20 years as a translational and clinical immunologist. Babak is available to speak to media about this important topic - simply click on his icon now to arrange a time to speak today.
Aston University turns red to highlight World Encephalitis Day
• Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN) researchers support World Encephalitis Day on 22 February • Aston University library will be lit up in red – the official campaign colour • Staff and students are encouraged to wear red and tweet their photos in support of the campaign Researchers and staff at Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN) are marking World Encephalitis Day (22 February) by lighting up the Aston University library on its campus near Birmingham city centre. The library will be lit up in red – the official colour of the campaign - to support and raise awareness of encephalitis and all those affected by the condition. The global awareness campaign, introduced by the charity the Encephalitis Society, is based on the theme of Code Red – an emergency alert code used in hospitals. Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain. It is caused either by an infection invading the brain or through the immune system attacking the brain in error. According to the Encephalitis Society, anyone at any age can develop the condition, with up to 6,000 cases in the UK each year and potentially hundreds of thousands worldwide. In the USA there were approximately 250,000 patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of encephalitis in the last decade. Researchers at Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment are working closely with patients affected by the disease through their child-focused research programme. Dr Sukhvir Wright, honorary consultant neurologist at Birmingham Children's Hospital, and Wellcome Trust clinical research career development fellow at IHN, said: “IHN researchers know first-hand what children and families affected by encephalitis go through on a daily basis. That’s why we are fighting to answer the questions that matter most to this community through our work. “Our research includes, developing disease models to help try and improve treatments. We do brain imaging to identify biomarkers that might help predict outcomes and at the bedside of our patients we contribute up-to-date practical information and support for children and their families. This work is carried out closely in partnership with the Encephalitis Society.” As part of the awareness campaign IHN researchers are calling upon staff and students to show their support by wearing red on Wednesday 22 February - and share their pictures on social media. Please use the hashtags #Red4WED #WorldEncephalitisDay #TeamAston and remember to tag @Aston_IHN. For more information about Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN) please visit our website.
Professor Corinne Spickett will explain how oxygen can cause damage to cells and lead to diseases Her inaugural lecture will take place on Thursday 26 January 2023 at 6.30 pm Members of the public may attend in person or online. A leading biochemist at Aston University is to give an inaugural lecture on the concept of oxidative stress and how failure to control it leads to diseases on Thursday 26 January 2023. During her public lecture, ‘Oxygen: can’t live without it, but stressful to live with it’, Professor Corinne Spickett will explain how oxygen can cause damage to cells, how damaged molecules such as “sticky lipids” can be measured using advanced technology, and what their biological effects are. Corinne moved to Aston University in 2011 from the University of Strathclyde. Her first degree was in biochemistry at Oxford University and she went on to gain a DPhil from Oxford on the application of NMR to study yeast bioenergetics in vivo. After postdoctoral work using NMR to investigate stress responses in plants and glutathione metabolism in pre-eclamptic toxaemia, she became a Glaxo-Jack research lecturer in the Department of Immunology at the University of Strathclyde and subsequently a senior lecturer in the Department of Biosciences. Since then, she has been working on the analysis of phospholipid oxidation by mass spectrometry and the biological effects of oxidized lipids, especially as relating to atherosclerosis and inflammation, and has published extensively in this field. She has also applied her expertise in analysis of phospholipids to lipidomic studies of LDL in chronic kidney disease and the study of changes in yeast membranes in biotechnology applications. More recently, she expanded her research to include analysis of protein oxidation and formation of lipoxidation products during inflammation. She is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of redox biology with extensive involvement in international research. Professor Spickett said: “We tend to take oxygen for granted as something essential for life, but actually it is highly reactive and its role in biochemistry poses a challenge for organisms from yeast to man. “Through a synopsis of my career, I will explain how oxygen can cause damage to cells and, in parallel, I will illustrate how academic research careers are often non-linear and often depend on serendipity.” The lecture will take place at Aston University at 6.00 pm for 6.30 pm on Thursday 26 January 2023. It will be followed by a wine reception from 7.30 pm to 8.00 pm. It is open to the public and free to attend, but places must be booked in advance via Eventbrite.
Potential long-term treatment for asthma found - new research
New approach tackles one of the causes of asthma, not just its symptoms In treated mice, symptoms virtually disappeared within two weeks Further research needed before the treatment can be trialled in humans. A possible way to tackle one of the underlying causes of asthma has been developed by researchers from Aston University and Imperial College London. In tests in mice, the researchers were able to virtually eliminate asthmatic symptoms within two weeks and return their airways to near normal. Just under 5.5 million people in the UK receive treatment for asthma and around 1,200 people die of the disease each year. Asthma causes the airways to become thickened and constricted, resulting in symptoms such as wheezing and shortness of breath. Current treatments, including steroids, provide short term relief from these symptoms, by either relaxing the airways or reducing inflammation. However, no current drugs address the structural changes asthma makes to the airway and lungs, in order to offer a longer-lasting treatment. Lead researcher, Dr Jill Johnson, from Aston University’s School of Biosciences, said: “By targeting the changes in the airway directly, we hope this approach could eventually offer a more permanent and effective treatment than those already available, particularly for severe asthmatics who don’t respond to steroids. However, our work is still at an early stage and further research is needed before we can begin to test this in people.” The research focused on a type of stem cell known as a pericyte, which is mainly found in the lining of blood vessels. When asthmatics have an allergic and inflammatory reaction, for example to house dust mites, this causes the pericytes to move to the airway walls. Once there, the pericytes develop into muscle cells and other cells that make the airway thicker and less flexible. This movement of the pericytes is triggered by a protein known as CXCL12. The researchers used a molecule called LIT-927 to block the signal from this protein, by introducing it into the mice’s nasal passages. Asthmatic mice that were treated with LIT-927 had a reduction in symptoms within one week and their symptoms virtually disappeared within two weeks. The researchers also found that the airway walls in mice treated with LIT-927 were much thinner than those in untreated mice, closer to those of healthy controls. The team are now applying for further funding to carry out more research into dosage and timing. This would help them to determine when might be the most effective time to administer the treatment during the progress of the disease, how much of LIT-927 is needed, and to better understand its impact on lung function. They believe that, should this research be successful, it will still be several years before the treatment could be tested in people. The research was funded by the Medical Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation and is published in Respiratory Medicine.
Findings point to potential new therapeutic targets for this highly aggressive, drug-resistant breast cancer subtype In breakthrough research at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, scientists have discovered that a protein secreted by tumor cells can switch off the body’s natural defenses against triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). The study, led by Jennifer Sims-Mourtada, Ph.D., lead research scientist at the Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research (CTCR), at the Graham Cancer Center, is reported in The Journal of Translational Medicine, available online. “What we found is that TNBC tumor cells can effectively shut down the body’s defense systems against the tumor by secreting a type of protein called IL-10,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “The presence of this immune system protein forces the antibodies that would normally be created to attack the tumor to become non-reactive and not do what they are supposed to do.” The study was initiated in partnership with The Wistar Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the late Raj “Shyam” Somasundaram, Ph.D., a cell biologist at the Melanoma Research Center. “Dr. Sims-Mourtada and her team have brought us tantalizingly close to understanding what drives the aggressive nature of triple negative breast cancer, a treatment-starved disease that disproportionately affects Delaware women,” said Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., Bank of America endowed medical director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute. “Their work underscores our belief that scientific collaborations such as this one between our Cawley CTCR clinicians and Wistar scientists can smooth the way for new findings to become effective therapies, especially for hard-to-treat and aggressive forms of cancer like TNBC.” Understanding the mechanism behind TNBC Delaware ranks highest in the nation for incidence of triple negative breast cancer. TNBC is an aggressive form that affects Black women at twice the rate of white women with poorer outcomes. Patients have higher rates of early recurrence than other breast cancer subtypes, particularly in the first five years after diagnosis. Currently there is no targeted therapy for TNBC. “One of our missions within the Cawley CTCR is to understand the mechanisms behind TNBC and find a treatment for it,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “Our study sheds new light on what is prompting the body’s immune response to the cancer cells and offers clues to potential new therapeutic targets.” Normally it is the job of the B cells to regulate the immune response against foreign invaders like cancer. Among other jobs, they control inflammation at the site of an attack by releasing proteins including IL-10 to signal the defender cells to stand down. “Previously it was thought that the immune cells were the ones to express IL-10 to regulate themselves,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “But our study shows that the tumor cells also release this protein, which means they are driving how the immune system behaves.” Within the tumor microenvironment, IgG4 is one of four antibody subclasses expressed and secreted by B cells. Whereas another type of antibody would urge the immune system to press on with the attack, activation of IgG4 signals the job is done. TNBC and activation of IgG4 “Our findings support that TNBC may create a tumor environment that supports activation of IgG4, and messaging from IL10 is triggering the switch,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. As previously reported with other cancers, such as melanoma, this study confirms that the presence of IgG4-positive B cells within the tumor associates with advanced disease increased recurrence and poor overall breast cancer survival. It is also possible that IL-10 expression by tumor cells may also be a cause of poor outcomes in TNBC, and this may be independent of IgG4+ B cells. “At this point, we don’t know what causes tumor cells to start secreting IL-10, but we know that B cell-tumor cell interactions are involved,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “We still have to look at what is really going on in the B cell population to determine which subtypes of B cells are affected by this tumor crosstalk and why some forms of TNBC express IL-10 (the ones with poor outcomes) and others do not. “We think that the presence or absence of other immune cells in the microenvironment may affect how B cells interact with tumor cells to drive IL-10 expression,” she said. Resources for the study, including blood and tissue samples from consenting patients, were obtained through the Graham Cancer Center’s Tissue Procurement program. Interestingly, in a small subset of samples, the researchers found that IL-10 expression was significantly higher in Black patients than non-Hispanic white patients. These findings need to be confirmed in a larger more diverse population with different TNBC subtypes. Understanding tumor-infiltrating B cells “Our growing understanding of the contribution of IgG4+ cells to the immune microenvironment of TNBC and what drives IL-10 expression may reveal ways in which tumor-infiltrating B cells can contribute to tumor growth and provide new targets to increase the immune response to TNBC,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. As partners for more than a decade, Graham Cancer Center research clinicians and Wistar scientists collaborate across disciplines to translate cancer research into more effective therapies for patients everywhere. In addition to providing high-quality, viable tissue samples for Wistar research studies, Graham Cancer Center clinicians actively participate in concept development, sharing their unique understanding of the everyday patient experience.
Smell training, not steroids, best treatment for Covid-19 smell loss
Steroids should not be used to treat smell loss caused by Covid-19 according to an international group of smell experts, including Prof Carl Philpott from the University of East Anglia. Smell loss is a prominent symptom of Covid-19, and the pandemic is leaving many people with long-term smell loss. But a new study published today shows that corticosteroids - a class of drug that lowers inflammation in the body – are not recommended to treat smell loss due to Covid-19. Instead, the team recommend ‘smell training’ – a process that involves sniffing at least four different odours twice a day for several months. Smell loss expert Prof Carl Philpott from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “The huge rise in smell loss caused by Covid-19 has created an unprecedented worldwide demand for treatment. “Around one in five people who experience smell loss as a result of Covid-19 report that their sense of smell has not returned to normal eight weeks after falling ill. “Corticosteroids are a class of drug that lowers inflammation in the body. Doctors often prescribe them to help treat conditions such as asthma, and they have been considered as a therapeutic option for smell loss caused by Covid-19. “But they have well-known potential side effects including fluid retention, high blood pressure, and problems with mood swings and behaviour.” The team carried out a systematic evidence-based review to see whether corticosteroids could help people regain their sense of smell. Prof Philpott said: “What we found that there is very little evidence that corticosteroids will help with smell loss. And because they have well known potential adverse side effects, our advice is that they should not be prescribed as a treatment for post-viral smell loss. "There might be a case for using oral corticosteroids to eliminate the possibility of another cause for smell loss actually being a confounding factor, for example chronic sinusitis – this is obviously more of a diagnostic role than as a treatment for viral smell loss. “Luckily most people who experience smell loss as a result of Covid-19 will regain their sense of smell spontaneously. Research shows that 90 per cent of people will have fully recovered their sense of smell after six months. “But we do know that smell training could be helpful. This involves sniffing at least four different odours twice a day every day for several months. It has emerged as a cheap, simple and side-effect free treatment option for various causes of smell loss, including Covid-19. “It aims to help recovery based on neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to reorganise itself to compensate for a change or injury,” he added. The research was led by researchers at the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc in Brussels (Belgium) in collaboration with the Univeristé catholique de Louvain, Brussels (Belgium), the University of East Anglia (UK), Biruni University, Istanbul (Turkey), Aarhus University (Denmark), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (Canada), Geneve University Hospitals (Switzerland), Harvard University (USA), Aristotle University, Thessaloniki (Greece), University of Insubriae (Italy), University of Vienna (Austria), the University of Chicago (USA) and the University of Colorado (USA). ‘Systemic corticosteroids in COVID-19 related smell dysfunction: an international view’ is published in the journal International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology.
