Back The Fifth Sense Seeking Help

UK Charity Fifth Sense seeks people experiencing problems with smell and/or taste to help with pioneering priority setting research

Almost two-thirds of people infected with Covid-19 experience loss or distortion of their sense of smell and taste.

However, since long before the pandemic millions of others in the UK - around 5% of the population - have been living with disorders including anosmia (total loss of smell), phantosmia (smelling things that aren’t there) and dysgeusia (a distorted sense of taste).
Smell and taste have a major impact on our quality of life, playing a huge role in memory and mood, and informing many of life’s pleasurable experiences.

The Fifth Sense (established in 2012), the first charity in the UK that supports people affected by smell and taste disorders, has teamed up with the James Lind Alliance, a non-profit initiative that brings together patients, carers and clinicians, to release a survey - the first of its kind - aimed at all those affected including family members, health or social professionals, and relevant organisations. The results will form a vital list of priorities which will serve as a catalyst for groundbreaking research into conditions that have a serious quality-of-life impact on so many.

The search is on for anyone affected, whether due to Covid-19 or not, to help by sharing their unresolved issues in the survey, which is available now on the Fifth Sense website.