Had a bad case of flu in 2014 and a "sick smell" ever since

[Dave2436]

In Dec 2014 I got a bad case of flu. I was sick for three weeks and had the usual "sick smell" in my nose, which has always gone away in the past as soon as I recovered. Not this time. My sense of smell is still there, as occasionally I can smell the aroma of freshly brewed coffee or some other distinctive smell. The sick smell is covering it up. I've been on antibiotics for 10 days which did absolutely nothing except disturb my digestion. I've tried using a Neti pot for a while and have recently used a Navage sinus cleansing device, which seems to offer a bit of relief but doesn't seem to restore my normal sense of smell. All it seems to do is lower the level of the stink. I recently went to the doctor and asked if there was a way to culture the nostrils and he said that this would only work to culture for MRSA. I find that hard to believe. He referred me to an ENT, which I have not seen yet. I hate this smell and long for the days of being able to smell freshly mowed grass, pine trees, good food, etc, instead of this constant bad odor. No one else can smell it but it seems to me that since something happened during my bout of flu, that this has to be related to that and a nose culture should be able to identify something abnormal. Does anyone know if the nose can be cultured for abnormal bacteria / fungus other than MRSA?