Acta Scientific Medical Sciences (ASMS)(ISSN: 2582-0931)

Research Article Volume 6 Issue 4

New-onset Anosmia Among COVID-19 Suspected Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Cairo, Egypt

Nora Tarek Ibrahim1*, Hossam Attia Mohammed1, Hazem Naguib Awad1, Mohammed Elsayed1 and Ahmed Elshehawy2

1Head of ENT Department, Consultant of Otorhinolaryngology at Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
2Otorhinolaryngology specialist at Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt

*Corresponding Author: Nora Tarek Ibrahim, Head of ENT Department, Consultant of Otorhinolaryngology at Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.

Received: February 17, 2022; Published: March 09, 2022

Abstract

Introduction: The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus, which was first reported in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and quickly spread to 213 countries and territories. As we race to get a better understanding of its pathology and how to manage it, a few trends have been noticed. Among these is the anecdotal finding of patients reporting sudden loss of smell and taste as one of the preliminary, and sometimes only, symptom

Aim: This study aims to describe the characteristics of patients that present with new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Sample will target patients that present to the Emergency COVID-19 clinic at Ahmed Maher Teaching Hospital. The study data will be collected by data collection forms filled out by the researchers. All patients presenting to the covid-19 Emergency clinic with new onset anosmia within a two-month period.

Results: Out of total 81 participants from whom data was collected, 15 cases had diminished sense of smell as preliminary symptom, and 6 cases had only that at time of swab., 38.5% of all positive patients had their olfactory function affected as preliminary symptom. Thus, we can say that almost one in three positive patients displays a diminished sense of smell as a preliminary symptom.

The mean duration of anosmia was 9.4 ± 10.4 days in cases with anosmia who were confirmed by PCR to be positive, as compared to 10.74 ± 9.39 in cases with anosmia who showed negative results; without significant difference (P = 0.660). Duration was < 7 days for 55% (11/20), 7-14 days for 20% (4/20), and > 14 days for 25% (5/20).

Conclusion: While anosmia has been proven to be an anecdotal finding in COVID-19 positive patients, the presence of new onset anosmia in patients during the COVID-19 era cannot be fully explained by the SARS- CoV-2 virus. However, as healthcare workers, wearing full PPE while dealing with anosmia patients is recommended, as anosmia could be a preliminary symptom and this could prevent infection.

Keywords: Anosmia; COVID-19; SARS-CoV2

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Citation

Citation: Nora Tarek Ibrahim., et al. “New-onset Anosmia Among COVID-19 Suspected Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Cairo, Egypt”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 6.4 (2022): 35-45.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Agron Nora Tarek Ibrahim., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.




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