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Loss of smell: Symptom of COVID-19?

There has been some speculation on the idea that anosmia or a loss of smell could potentially be a symptom for COVID-19. A study conducted in12 European hospitals followed 417 patients with a mild to moderate infection during the course of the disease. The findings have shown that approximately 85.6% of patients experienced problems with their sense of smell. Females were found to be more affected than males. This dysfunction could appear before, during or after the general symptoms. Typically, fever is also associated with olfactory dysfunction. An interesting point to note is that, these symptoms appeared before any other complaint in 11.8% of the patients, indicating that anosmia, or loss of smell, may help in early detection of the disease. An article in NeurologyToday, discusses some possible biological mechanisms which can lead to anosmia. According to Dr. Datta and his colleagues, it is not the sensory neurons that are damaged, rather the support cells and the stem cells also found in the nose are infected. This is because the support cells and the stem cells express the SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE-2 which facilitates the entry of the virus into the body.

Other studies also show similar outcomes and suggest that some degree of smell loss can be seen in most people with the virus. New studies are being conducted to better understand this loss of smell. Dr. Mark Albers at Harvard Medical School is hoping to launch a clinical trial to determine the extent and frequency of smell loss using peel and sniff cards, among newly diagnosed patients.



By: Sanya Bansal

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