Fever, cough, fatigue, headache and throat pain, respiratory discomfort and stiffness: here are all the symptoms of coronavirus, listed by Public Health France. In a press release published on Friday, the ENT National Professional Council (CNPORL) said that the sudden loss of taste and smell would be new warning signs of Covid-19. "Several ENTs and French infectious diseases specialists have recently observed the occurrence of brutal anosmias, often associated with an ageusia but without nasal obstruction, in suspect or confirmed patients" , they indicate.
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In Germany as in France, specialists have also claimed in recent days that loss of taste and smell were linked to the coronavirus. The information was confirmed Friday evening by the director general of health, Jérôme Salomon, during his daily press conference. According to him, these signals, "quite rare" , are "linked to the virus" . These symptoms appear to occur in "fairly young" people with " mild forms " of the disease. "You must call your doctor and avoid self-medication without specialist advice ," he warned.
Recommended containment
In their press release, ENT specialists advise symptomatic people “to stay confined to their homes and to watch for the appearance of other evocative symptoms” . They also ask doctors "not to prescribe corticosteroids by general or local in front of any clinical picture with acute anosmia or dysgeusia" .
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For the time being, specialists do not prescribe nose washes, especially since the changes in taste and smell “are not
usually accompanied by a disabling nasal obstruction ” . "According to the preliminary data we have, the natural course of acute anosmias linked to Covid-19 often seems favorable," they reassure, however.
