‘Loss of Smell’ Is Strong And Highly Reliable Indicator of COVID19

Shikha Chaurasia

October 5, 2020: A research group from the United Kingdom (UK) published their findings on Thursday and wrote in their study that loss of taste and smell is a strong sign and a highly reliable indicator that a person is infected with the Coronavirus. These symptoms may occur with other symptoms of the COVID-19 infection while in some cases it occurs without any other symptoms like fever or cough.

They also wrote that people should self-isolate themselves if they suffer from loss of taste and smell without any other symptoms. Rachel Batterham of the University College London and University College London Hospitals lead the team of researchers and said in a news release on Thursday, “Our findings show that loss of smell and taste is a highly reliable indicator that someone is likely to have Covid-19 and if we are to reduce the spread of this pandemic, it should now be considered by governments globally as a criterion for self-isolation, testing and contact tracing.”

For research, the team studied 590 volunteers who had reported a loss of taste or smell. They tested 567 volunteers for COVID-19 infection out of which 77.6 per cent tested positive for the virus.

The researchers reported in the PLOS Medicine journal that 80.4 per cent participants who had reported a loss of smell and 77.8 per cent who had reported a loss of taste had tested positive for COVID-19. They found that 40% of people who had a positive test result neither had a cough nor fever.

The research group had found that people with only loss of smell were three times more likely to have COVID-19 antibodies when compared to patients with just loss of taste. Patients with both, loss in smell and taste, were four times more likely to have COVID-19 antibodies.

The researchers wrote, “These findings suggest that a loss of smell is a highly specific symptom of Covid-19, in contrast to a loss of taste, despite their comparable frequency.”

The findings, however, come with limitations because the study does not include a comparison group of people who did not report loss of taste and/or smell.

The participants were chosen for research between April 23 and May 14 when the pandemic was at its peak in London.

In May, the Department of Health and Social Care announced anosmia (loss of smell) as a symptom of COVID-19 infection in the UK. The government also announced that people with continuous cough or fever or anosmia should self-isolate themselves.