The American Academy of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery — says on its website that anecdotal evidence is rapidly accumulating that anosmia and dysgeusia are significant symptoms associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.  Anosmia is sometimes called “smell blindness,” or the loss of the sense of smell.  Dysgeusia is is a distortion of the sense of taste.  Anosmia, in particular, has been seen in patients ultimately testing positive for the coronavirus with no other symptoms. The AAO-HNS is proposing that these symptoms be added to the list of screening tools for possible COVID-19 infection.

The ENT-UK at the Royal College of Surgeons of England published a paper saying “there is already good evidence from South Korea, China and Italy that significant numbers of patients with proven COVID-19 infection have developed anosmia/hyposmia.  Hyposmia, related to anosmia, is a reduced ability to smell and to detect odors. In Germany it is reported that more than 2 in 3 confirmed cases have anosmia. In South Korea, where testing has been more widespread, 30% of patients testing positive have had anosmia as their major presenting symptom in otherwise mild cases.”

The AAO-HNS says that such symptoms, in the absence of other respiratory disease such as allergic rhinitis, acute rhinosinusitis, or chronic rhinosinusitis should alert physicians to the possibility of COVID-19 infection and warrant serious consideration for self-isolation and testing of these individuals.  ***Note, this was in bold on the AAO-HNS website.