A UK doctor group, the British Rhinological Society, has warned that a loss of smell or taste could be a symptom of the CCP virus, with a U.S. doctors group calling for the symptom to be added to a “list of screening tools” for the virus.
“It is therefore perhaps no surprise that the novel COVID-19 virus would also cause anosmia in infected patients,” she said, adding that patients from Italy, China, and South Korea have been known to have the symptom. She said more than two-thirds of confirmed German patients have experienced it.
“In South Korea, where testing has been more widespread, 30 percent of patients testing positive have had anosmia as their major presenting symptom in otherwise mild cases,” Hopkins wrote.
“Anosmia, in particular, has been seen in patients ultimately testing positive for the coronavirus with no other symptoms,” said the academy in a statement on Monday, adding that it would “warrant serious consideration for self-isolation and testing of these individuals.”
Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert, who contracted the virus earlier in March, wrote on Twitter that he can’t smell anything and believes it’s a symptom.
“Just to give you guys an update, loss of smell and taste is definitely one of the symptoms, haven’t been able to smell anything for the last 4 days. Anyone experiencing the same thing?” he said.
Meanwhile, a professor for ear, throat, and nose surgery in Australia echoed statements that loss of taste and smell should be tracked as a possible sign.
Health experts say that CCP virus symptoms include a dry cough, shortness of breath, and a fever, and that it can lead to pneumonia.