a relative of mine was one of them and it was just a bad cold as far as I know. All better. Loss of taste and smell was one of the symptoms.
Back when I was in college and grad school, I remember often hearing about how the on-campus in patient infirmary had no beds due to the flus, walking pneumonia, and strep that was going around.
That was the place that kids who lived too far from home went to if they felt too sick to put up with dorm life, I guess. I was a commuter student myself.