SARS COV-2 and other viral
etiology as a possible clue for the olfactory dilemma
Ossama I. Mansour (1), Mohamed Shehata Taha (1), Mohammad Salah Mahmoud
(1*), Waleed Farag Ezzat (1), Anas Askoura (1), Mohamed Farouk Allam (2), Samia
Abdo Girgis (3), Azza Omran (4), Sara Hassan Agwa (5) and Mohamed Naguib
Mohamed (1)
1. Department of
Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, 38 Abbassia, Next to
the Al-Nour Mosque, Cairo, Egypt.
2. Department of
Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, 38 Abbassia, Next
to the Al-Nour Mosque, Cairo, Egypt.
3. Department of
Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, 38 Abbassia,
Next to the Al-Nour Mosque, Cairo, Egypt.
4. Department of
Clinical Pathology, El-Mataria Teaching Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.
5. Clinical Pathology,
Molecular Genomic Unit, MASRI, Ain Shams University, 38 Abbassia, Next to the
Al-Nour Mosque, Cairo, Egypt.
The Egyptian Journal of
Otolaryngology volume 38,
Article number: 65 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1186/s43163-022-00251-9
Background. Post-viral anosmia is responsible for
more than 40% of cases of anosmia. Anosmia has been a neglected symptom in the
primary healthcare setting until the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The
spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection highlighted new atypical symptoms of the
disease, including anosmia, which has become one of the diagnostic symptoms of
the disease, and epidemiological concern. We aimed to detect the incidence of
SARS-CoV-2 infection within patients presented with anosmia and to test for
other respiratory viruses in the negative COVID-19 patients. We also detected
the recovery of anosmia and IgM/IgG against COVID-19. We prospectively included
60 outpatients with the major complaint of anosmia. Nasopharyngeal swabs were
done for SARS-CoV-2 real-time PCR, and if negative, PCR to other respiratory
pathogens was tested. After one month, we inquired about the recovery of smell
loss together with testing for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
Results. Sixty patients were enrolled in the
study. Forty-six patients (76.7%) were SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive and 14 (23.3%)
were negative. Rhinovirus was the commonest isolated pathogen in the negative
cases (5/14). Complete recovery of anosmia occurred in 34 patients (56.7%),
while partial recovery in 24 (40.0%), and no recovery in 2 patients (3.3%). The
median time to complete recovery was 10 days. 28.3% (13/46) of the patients
showed negative antibody response for both IgG and IgM.
Conclusions. Sudden-onset anosmia is a symptom that
is highly predictive of being COVID-19-infected. While recovery is expected
within 2 weeks, some patients have no antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
Keywords: Anosmia, SARS-CoV-2, Incidence,
Recovery, Seroconversion, COVID-19.
Egyptian Journal
of Otolaryngology 2022;38(1):65.
https://ejo.springeropen.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s43163-022-00251-9.pdf
