26 May 2020
Jerome R. Lechien, MD, PhD, MS,
Carlos M. Chiesa-Estomba MD, MS,
Stephane Hans, MD, PhD, MS,
Maria Rosaria Barillari MD, PhD, MS,
Lionel Jouffe, PhD,
Sven Saussez, MD, PhD
Author, Article and Disclosure Information
Background: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread worldwide rapidly. Commonly reported symptoms, such as fever, cough, dyspnea, fatigue, and myalgia, are nonspecific, and the lack of testing in some European countries may make the diagnosis of COVID-19 challenging. However, 2 distinctive symptoms were identified recently: loss of smell and loss of taste (1). These symptoms were not reported extensively in initial studies (2) and might help in the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19.
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and features of, as well as recovery from, smell dysfunction in European patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.
Methods: From 22 March to 23 April 2020, we identified 2153 consecutive ambulatory and hospitalized patients with positive results on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing at 18 European hospitals. Patients had mild to moderate COVID-19, defined as an infection not requiring intensive care, and those who were hospitalized were discharged during the study period.
...
Jerome R. Lechien, MD, PhD, MS,
Carlos M. Chiesa-Estomba MD, MS,
Stephane Hans, MD, PhD, MS,
Maria Rosaria Barillari MD, PhD, MS,
Lionel Jouffe, PhD,
Sven Saussez, MD, PhD
Author, Article and Disclosure Information
Background: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread worldwide rapidly. Commonly reported symptoms, such as fever, cough, dyspnea, fatigue, and myalgia, are nonspecific, and the lack of testing in some European countries may make the diagnosis of COVID-19 challenging. However, 2 distinctive symptoms were identified recently: loss of smell and loss of taste (1). These symptoms were not reported extensively in initial studies (2) and might help in the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19.
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and features of, as well as recovery from, smell dysfunction in European patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.
Methods: From 22 March to 23 April 2020, we identified 2153 consecutive ambulatory and hospitalized patients with positive results on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing at 18 European hospitals. Patients had mild to moderate COVID-19, defined as an infection not requiring intensive care, and those who were hospitalized were discharged during the study period.
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