Sniffin' Sticks for early detection of COVID-19!

New studies suggest that acute loss of smell often occurs in patients with COVID-19 (e.g. 1). Impaired ability to smell is one of the most common symptoms (77%) in the first four days of infection (2). In combination with a dry cough, determining loss of smell could aid in the early diagnosis of COVID-19 (3). Loss of smell and taste are more specific for COVID-19 than e.g. cough or fever (4). In an emergency department in Korea, it was determined that self-reported normosmia predicted that a patient did not have COVID-19 with 96% probability. An objective smell test may further improve this prediction (5). Burghart Messtechnik GmbH offers e.g. the validated Screening 12 test, which can be used to reliably detect an odor loss.

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1: Streeck et al., Infection fatality rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a German community with a super-spreading event., medRxiv preprint (2020).

https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.04.20090076

2: Vaira LA et al., Olfactory and gustatory function impairment in COVID-19 patients: Italian objective multicenter-study., Head and Neck (2020)

https://doi.org/10.1002/hed.26269

3: Schmithausen RM et al., Characteristic Temporary Loss of Taste and Olfactory Senses in
SARS-CoV-2-positive-Individuals with Mild Symptoms., Pathogens and Immunity (2020)

https://doi.org/10.20411/pai.v5i1.374

4: Zayet S et al., Contribution of anosmia and dysgeusia for diagnostic of COVID-19 in outpatients., Infection (2020)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-020-01442-3

5: Kai Chua AJ et al., Acute olfactory loss is specific for Covid-19 at the Emergency Department., Annals of Emergency Medicine (2020)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2020.05.015