The Loss of Smell and Taste in the COVID-19 Outbreak: a Tale of Many Countries
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The Loss of Smell and Taste in the COVID-19 Outbreak: a Tale of Many Countries Joaquim Mullol 1,2,3 & Isam Alobid 1,2,3 & Franklin Mariño-Sánchez 4 & Adriana Izquierdo-Domínguez 5 & Concepció Marin 2,3 & Ludger Klimek 6 & De-Yun Wang 7 & Zheng Liu 8
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose of Review Olfactory dysfunction in upper airway viral infections (common cold, acute rhinosinusitis) is common (> 60%). During the COVID-19 outbreak, frequency of sensory disorders (smell and/or taste) in affected patients has shown a high variability from 5 to 98%, depending on the methodology, country, and study. Recent Findings A sudden, severe, isolated loss of smell and/or taste, in the absence of other upper airway inflammatory diseases (allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, nasal polyposis), should alert individuals and physicians on being potentially affected by COVID-19. The evaluation of smell/taste disorders with a visual analogue scale or an individual olfactory or gustatory test, at the hospital or by telemedicine, to prevent contamination might facilitate an early detection of infected patients and reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Summary During the COVID-19 outbreak, patients with sudden loss of smell should initiate social distancing and home isolation measures and be tested for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test when available. Olfactory training is recommended when smell does not come back after 1 month but can be started earlier. Keywords Smell and taste dysfunction . Acute rhinosinusitis . Hyposmia . Anosmia . SARS-CoV-2 . COVID-19
Introduction: When and Where Did Everything Start? In the past 20 years, mankind has experienced two severe coronavirus infections, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012. The first cases of the COVID-19 outbreak started in December 2019 in Wuhan (China) in patients with complicated pneumonia [1]. The disease is caused by a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from a potential bat origin [2] * Joaquim Mullol [email protected] 1
Rhinology Unit & Smell Clinic, ENT Department, Hospital Clinic Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
2
INGENIO, Clinical & Experimental Respiratory Immunoallergy, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
3
CIBER of Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
and from which viral genome was rapidly characterized [3]. In January 2020, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was identified as the functional receptor for SARS-CoV-2, present in multiple human organs including the central nervous system. The disease progressively spread to other Asian countries, Iran, and European countries such as Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and UK. Later the COVID-19 also spread to African and North and South American countries such as USA, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Until the present day ( early August 2020), COVID-19 has affected 188 countries, 4
Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery Unit, ENT Department, Hospital Universitar
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