Smell and taste dysfunction during the COVID-19 outbreak: a preliminary report

In late December 2019, in Wuhan (China), health authorities reported several clusters of pneumonia of unknown cause, subsequently attributed to a novel coronavirus, identified as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2. Anosmia and dysgeusia have been reported as particular symptoms.(4)(,)(5) Notably, these sensory symptoms seem to have a peculiar trend, such as usually precede the onset of respiratory symptoms. So, they have been defined as “sentinel” symptoms. We presented a series of COVID-19 patients. Anosmia and dysgeusia frequently preceded respiratory complaints. Anosmia and dysgeusia seem to be short-lived and self-resolving in COVID-19, thus a neurotoxic effect swiftly disappearing and/or cytopathic damage could be hypothesized similarly to other viral infections. (www.actabiomedica.it)