Smell and taste. Questionnaire assessment of smell and taste changes in patients with a positive COVID-19 test

The disease has a very broad clinical spectrum, ranging from a common cold to a severe pulmonary condition with acute respiratory failure. Taking into account that there is an important limitation of diagnostic tests, the search for specific early symptoms can help with suspicion, better use of diagnostic resources and the adoption of initial support measures and early social isolation. We recently became aware of anecdotal reports by Mao et al2, that 5.1% of patients with COVID-19 have anosmia. However, anosmia is reported in 30% of patients with COVID19 in Daegu, South Korea, and in 2/3 of patients with COVID-19 in Heinsberg, Germany. According to publications in the forum of the American Society of Rhinology and the French Society of Otorhinolaryngology, there are indications that, in some patients, hyposmia/anosmia can occur as a single or even initial symptom in patients with clinical conditions of varying severity. In this study, we will estimate the prevalence of anosmia/hyposmia in patients with 2019-nCoV.