Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

October 21, 2020

Quantitative Assessment of Olfactory Dysfunction Accurately Detects Asymptomatic COVID-19 Carriers

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A novel design of an olfactory-action meter, which measures how well a person smells odors, found that 82% of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers (n=34) had olfactory deficits, compared to 13% of health volunteers. By comparison, only 15% of asymptomatic carriers had olfactory deficits detected by subjective evaluation. This method evaluated a combination of olfactory detection abilities at threshold levels and olfactory matching skills reflecting cognitive functioning.

Bhattacharjee et al. (Oct 16, 2020). Quantitative Assessment of Olfactory Dysfunction Accurately Detects Asymptomatic COVID-19 Carriers. EClinicalMedicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100575