CAN YOU 👃SMELL: If you've lost your sense of smell or taste, you could be a 'hidden carrier' of the coronavirus

👃If you've lost your sense of smell or taste, you could be a 'hidden carrier' of the coronavirus

March 22, 2020 by Adam Bienkov

A sudden loss of smell — known as anosmia or hyposmia — could be a symptom of the coronavirus, even if patients experience no other symptoms, according to leading rhinologists in the UK.

Evidence from South Korea, China, and Italy suggests that many patients with COVID-19 may have experienced a loss of smell without any other symptoms.
The British Association of Otorhinolaryngology calls on the authorities to advise anyone with a loss of smell or taste to self-isolate.
Young people could be more likely to carry the disease without presenting the more commonly recognised symptoms of fever and coughing, they believe.

Anyone experiencing a sudden loss of smell could be a "hidden carrier" of the coronavirus, even if they have no other symptoms, according to evidence compiled by leading rhinologists in the UK.

In South Korea, China, and Italy, about a third of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 have also reported a loss of smell — known as anosmia or hyposmia — leading ear, nose, and throat experts in the UK have reported.

"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 president of the British Rhinological Society Professor, Clare Hopkins, and the president of the British Association of Otorhinolaryngology, professor Nirmal Kumar, said in a joint statement.

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-symptoms-loss-of-smell-taste-covid-19-anosmia-hyposmia-2020-3?r=US&IR=T