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These are the symptoms of coronavirus 0:31
(CNN) - In mild to moderate cases of coronavirus, the loss of smell and, therefore, of taste, is becoming one of the most unusual first signs of the disease called covid-19.
"What is called anosmia, which basically means loss of smell, appears to be a symptom developed by several patients," CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta told CNN presenter Alisyn Camerota on the New Day program.
"It may be related to loss of taste, loss of appetite, we are not sure, but clearly it is something to consider," said Gupta. "Sometimes these first symptoms are not the classic ones."
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Although fever, cough, and shortness of breath are the key classic signs of contracting covid-19, a recent analysis of milder cases in South Korea found that the main presenting symptom in 30% of patients was the loss of smell. In Germany, more than two out of three confirmed cases had anosmia.
In response, the American Academy of Otorhinolaryngology-Neck and Head Surgery and ENT UK, a professional organization representing ear, nose and throat surgeons in the UK, are asking for the addition of loss of smell or taste to tools Screening for possible covid-19 infection.
But those with troubling signs, which may or may not be coronaviruses, are told to stay home and control their symptoms so as not to overcrowding already overburdened hospitals, clinics and healthcare workers.
So is there anything you can do at home to test if you're losing your nose?
The answer is yes, by using the "jellybean test".
How do you know if you are losing your sense of smell? (2016)The gummy test
"Take a jelly bean in one hand and hold your nose tightly with your other hand to keep air from flowing," said Steven Munger, director of the Center for Smell and Taste at the University of Florida.
“You put the jelly bean in your mouth and chew it. Let's say it's a fruit-flavored jelly bean: if you get the flavor plus the sweetness of the jelly bean you will know that you have a functional sense of flavor, "said Munger.
“Then, as you continue to chew, suddenly release your nose. If you have a sense of smell, suddenly you will get all the smells and say 'Oh! It's a lemon jelly "or" Oh! It's cherry. " It really is a very dramatic, quick and amazing type of response, ”he explained.
"So if you can go from bittersweet flavor to full flavor and know what the flavor is," Munger said, "then your sense of smell is probably in pretty good shape."
The scientific name for this process is retro nasal sense of smell, where odors flow from the back of the mouth up through the nasal pharynx and into the nasal cavity.
But what if you don't have a jelly bean? You can also use other foods, said Dr. Erich Voigt, an ear, nose, and throat specialist, director of NYU's Langone Health division of sleep otolaryngology.
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"The pure sense of smell would be if you can smell a particular substance that is not stimulating other nerves," said Voigt. “So some examples of that would be if you can smell coffee grounds or coffee brewing, or if you can smell someone peeling an orange. That is the sense of smell. "
But you have to be careful, because it's easy to think that you are using your sense of smell when you are not, Voigt said.
"So for example, ammonia or cleaning solutions stimulate the trigeminal nerve, which is an irritating nerve," he said. "And then people will think, 'I can smell Clorox, I can smell ammonia, which means I can smell it.' But no, that is not correct. They don't really smell, they are using the trigeminal nerve. ”
Still not sure if you're doing it right? Review the scientifically recommended scratch and sniff tests online.
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Loss of smell is common
Of course, not all people who do not pass an odor test have coronaviruses. Any respiratory virus, such as a cold or the flu, will temporarily affect the sense of smell and taste, sometimes even permanently.
"The amount of swelling that can occur in the nose from the viral effect can prevent odor particles from reaching the top of the nose where the olfactory nerve is," said Voigt. "When that inflammation subsides, the sense of smell may return."
But there are also neurotoxic viruses, some of which are in the category of the common cold, Voigt said.
"If they are neurotoxic, it means they damage the olfactory nerve and it becomes essentially non-functional," he added. "Many of those cases can regain the smell over time, but sometimes it is a permanent loss."
A partial or complete chronic loss of smell is incredibly common, Munger said, affecting millions of Americans long before the new coronavirus appeared on the scene.
"About 13% of the population has a significant alteration of smell or taste," he said.
In addition to the cold and flu, other causes of loss of smell include nasal polyps, tumors, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, and traumatic brain injury or head trauma, including whiplash.
"If someone has been in a car accident or had a whiplash injury or head injury, that could also affect the small nerves as they go from the brain to the nose," said Voigt. "Therefore, a whiplash injury could also cause a permanent loss of the sense of smell."
Loss of flavor is commonly associated with loss of smell, because we rely on smell to identify flavors. But there can also be medical reasons: some medications can affect the taste; chemotherapy and radiotherapy can certainly alter the taste; And then there is physical damage, like nerves cut during dental surgery.
A coronavirus connection
If you think you have lost your sense of smell (and you don't have a medical reason to explain its loss), experts say you should take the symptom seriously.
"At this point I would be pretty sure to put it in the same category as, say, fever," Munger said. "Obviously, a variety of things can cause a fever. But if you lose your sense of smell quickly, you want to isolate yourself and contact your doctor to discuss the steps you can take. "
Voigt agrees: "My recommendation is that you isolate yourself and quarantine for about 14 days and don't pass the virus on to others," he said. "If you have to go out, wear a mask so you don't share the virus with others."
If you experience a loss of smell, be careful because there are dangers such as not being able to smell a gas leak or perceiving rotten milk or stale food.
And keep in mind that loss of smell can occur even more in disease, along with other more common symptoms.
"It can precede viral symptoms," said Voigt. “There were people with very mild symptoms of illness, but they did lose their sense of smell. And there are other patients in whom the loss of smell began after having fever and chills.
"So the timeline is not predictive," stressed the expert. "And it is also not a predictive sign of the severity of the disease, it does not predict that you will have serious lung complications at this time. We have no data to say that. "
covid-19