Anosmia Awareness Day
Feb 27 is Anosmia Awareness Day
Anosmia is the inability to smell; an invisible disability. It's estimated the up to 5% of the population may have anosmia. This can be congenital (from birth) but more often it occurs later in life. Possible causes include head trauma, physical damaged to the nose including the olfactory receptors, chronic inflammation within the sinuses, especially when nasal polyps are present, infections of the sinuses, tumours, and neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's.
There are health and safety concerns due to anosmia. Taste and smell are closely linked as is smell and appetite, so people with this condition may not eat enough. Safety concerns include eating food that is unsafe, being unaware of a natural gas leak as the odorant additve cannot be detected, increased fire hazards due to the inability to smell smoke, and not noticing toxic chemicals.
To learn more see:
https://www.fifthsense.org.uk/
https://www.monell.org/beta/research/anosmia
From www.monell.org:
Hi there @wonderfulMagic99
Thank you for your post, it's so interesting and not something I have heard of before, so thanks for enlightening me :-)
Lucy2
@lucy2 Thanks! I had come across a blog by someone with this years ago. I can't recall if she was born with it or developed it at a really young age. It was really interesting to read, if I come across it again I will link it here!