Reply to: It is necessary to assess olfactory and gustatory functions in post-COVID-19 patients due to the omicron variant infection

We very much appreciated the letters from Machado et al. and are pleased to have inspired these interesting thoughts. The advent of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has significantly reduced the prevalence of smell and taste dysfunction associated with COVID-19. However, approximately 30% of individuals affected by COVID-19 driven by this variant still reported olfactory or gustatory impairment during the acute phase of the disease. Moreover, when psychophysically evaluated, patients affected by the Omicron variant infection demonstrated a significantly higher prevalence of smell dysfunction than that observed in controls.